


Five Shinobi Institute

by sepia_cigarettes



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-07
Packaged: 2018-01-03 21:43:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sepia_cigarettes/pseuds/sepia_cigarettes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Uzumaki Naruto is a flirt. A loud-mouthed over-enthusiastic flirt who insists on breaking down any sort of organisational structure. It's just not on. The fact that Sasuke is possibly in love with him doesn't help either.</p>
<p>Boarding school AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Shinobi Institute

**Author's Note:**

> Well. This was meant to be 5000 words, tops, full of Naruto being popular and Sasuke being a difficult little shit, and this is what it turned in to: a ~25,000 word monster that really, is just Sasuke complaining. Also, the timeline is a bit iffy compared to the canon, but I haven't watched the anime in so long, and there remains a giant hole in my knowledge of the manga-verse. *hangs head in shame*
> 
> Also, I'm still getting used to the formatting on this, so sorry if there are any errors :/
> 
> 12/02/2014
> 
> Holla! Finally figured out and fixed the formatting on this document, so all emphasised/italicised words are in working order now, in case there was a bit of confusion over the thoughts versus narration. Also, apologies if there are any spelling errors; I'm not a Yank, but I believe that spelling is of utmost importance, especially considering most anime is voiced by American actors. Hence, you have Japanese students with American accents in a British school.

**First Year: pre-Genin**

Uzumaki Naruto was annoying. Unfortunately, he was also a part of Uchiha Sasuke’s house, Konoha, the Hidden House of the Leaf. The infamous blond had just entered the Dining Hall, flushed and whiskered and already attracting too much attention as he bounded—there really wasn’t another word for it—over to Konoha table.

The Five Shinobi Institute was an academy dedicated to producing the finest shinobi and kunoichi, and Uzumaki Naruto was quickly treading over all the established rules of perfection as he approached, spiky hair unkempt and grin painfully wide.

Sasuke tried not to appear interested when the blond sat next to him, wondering what his father had been thinking when he’d sent Sasuke away to boarding school instead of giving him a private tutor, like Itachi had been given. It would all have been simpler if he had remained at home, rather than being shipped off to an unknown environment at age eleven and be expected to cope with the drastic sea change.

The blond next to him swiveled in his seat and stuck out an enthusiastic hand to shake, crowing, “I’m Uzumaki Naruto; believe it!”

“I know who you are,” Sasuke muttered, ignoring the outstretched hand.

It was the truth though; how could anyone not know the blond? He was a jinchūriki, a demon-carrier, an untouchable in the shinobi world. Sasuke was slightly alarmed as to why his new school had decided to accept someone with such a condition like Uzumaki’s, but the grinning blond seemed unfazed by the cold treatment that Sasuke had issued to him.

“Who are you?” Uzumaki asked and Sasuke bristled, affronted.

How could the _dobe_ not know who he was? He was the epitome of his clan, sporting the trademark Uchiha-dark hair and pale skin. His eyes hadn’t gained the red tint that his older brother had, but that would come with age, so he was content with his eyes remaining obsidian-black for the moment.

The blond truly didn’t appear to know who he was though, so Sasuke closed his eyes in frustration for a brief period of time, before replying, “Uchiha Sasuke, if you must know.”

“Awesome!” Uzumaki answered loudly and Sasuke felt rather than saw the attentiveness of multiple people turn around to the pair of them.

“Would you be quiet?” he hissed, eyes darting furtively around to confirm his suspicions: they were the center of attention.

“What?” Uzumaki blinked, and Sasuke looked elsewhere, wishing the blond had chosen to sit next to someone else, like the lazy Nara Shikamaru, or the dog-boy, Inuzuka Kiba. The latter didn’t seem to realize that it was distasteful to have his pet at the dinner table.

“Shut up,” he mumbled, picking up a bread roll from the nearby basket and cutting it open, mindful of the meticulous manners that his mother had instilled into him.

“What’s your problem?” Uzumaki frowned, and Sasuke almost breathed a sigh in relief that the blond appeared to have more than two brain cells to rub together.

Almost.

“Just shut up,” he snapped, and the blond growled next to him.

“I’ll do what I want.”

The Dining Hall was alive with chatter, and Sasuke shifted in his seat, “Whatever, _dobe_.”

Uzumaki made a squawked noise or protest and Sasuke refrained from reaching out and snapping the blond’s neck. It wouldn’t do to make his mark on the school by murdering a fellow student, especially on the first day. Especially because he wasn’t even genin-level yet. Murdering people was for chūnin- and jounin-level, when they were actually meant to know how to, and Sasuke was only pre-genin anyway, a recent graduate from academy-level. So, he aimed his attentions elsewhere instead, on the table, on his food, on anything other than the annoying brat next to him.

It was no wonder the blond was an outsider. He was foolish and brash, both unconscious of the unwanted attention he caused and ignorant of it.

No, it would not do to associate with the likes of Uzumaki; it would tarnish Sasuke’s reputation, and he needed it. Prestige seemed to be the only thing that Sasuke had a chance at in this new school, and he was fully prepared to follow in his older brother’s footsteps and become another great figure in the long line of Uchihas.

Uzumaki hadn’t shut up yet. Sasuke scowled. He already hated this school.

*

Sasuke was frustrated, and it wasn’t even nine hours into the day. The morning had started off terribly, waking up from a sleepless night thanks to Uzumaki staying up through most of it. Too bad he was in the bed next to Sasuke’s.

Then Uzumaki had glued himself to Sasuke’s side on the way down to breakfast, dressed in a lurid orange and blue _jumpsuit_ , of all things. Sasuke had thought that his indifference towards the blond at dinner the previous evening might have scared Uzumaki off, but he was mistaken, because the blond had sat next to him as well and sparked up a one-sided conversation about how much he liked ramen. As if Sasuke gave a damn.

To top it off, the female populace of the pre-genin level had swarmed over him as soon as he’d walked into the first class of the day, nearly tearing him to shreds in their futile efforts to get him to sit next to them. Sasuke just wanted peace.

Not so. When he had finally managed to locate an empty desk and partially ward off approaching girls with his trademark death glare, he had been accosted by a blushing but stubborn kunoichi with pink hair who had boldly introduced herself as Haruno Sakura. Sasuke had brushed her off, but apparently girls were immune to his cold shoulder. Maybe they found it endearing or something. Whatever it was, they were more annoying than Uzumaki.

Uzumaki, who had now jumped up onto the desk in front of Sasuke and poked his forehead, wearing a not-so-happy expression.

“What, _dobe?_ ” Sasuke sighed, wishing the blond would leave him alone.

“Can I sit next to you?”

_Kami’s sake_ , Sasuke thought. He sighed, “Do you have to?”

“You’ve got the only free seat,” Uzumaki pointed out.

Sasuke glanced around the classroom and inwardly groaned. The blond was correct, which meant that he would have to sit next to Sasuke regardless, and the question was mere pleasantry.

“Go away, Naruto,” a new voice piped up—the pink-haired kunoichi, it turned out.

Sasuke was about to agree before realizing that it would leave him alone to the pink-haired kunoichi’s desperate attempts at gaining his attention. Great. Just great. He scowled, grabbing the blond’s wrist and tugging him down onto the bench, positioning him between himself and the pink-haired leech.

“Naruto!” the feminine screech came and Sasuke smirked. “You’re cutting out on my time with _Sasuke_.”

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose as Naruto cowered away from the flying fists of the kunoichi, hoping for the apocalypse to arrive and swallow the two of them whole. Anything other than the morning to be full of the squabbling pair.

“Kami, shut up,” he barked at the two of them, and the kunoichi’s eyes went all wide and innocent, a sign of impending apologies.

Fortunately, their sensei arrived, and the raucous activity of the classroom descended to absolute silence. Sasuke sighed in relief. He hated this school.

 

*

Sasuke really had no idea why Uzumaki had been accepted into the Five Shinobi Institute. After a week of assessing the blond in all of their classes—which they unfortunately shared, each and every single one of them—it appeared that the only thing the blond was good at was entertaining people with his stupidity.

Currently they were with Iruka-sensei, practicing transformation jutsus. Just previously, the blond had thought it would be hilarious to try replicating their Head of House before topping it off with a very inappropriate jutsu that resulted in their sensei having a nosebleed and dishing out a detention for the blond. It had garnered him some attention at least, but Sasuke remained unimpressed. The blond was so blind.

“Very good, Sasuke,” Iruka-sensei beamed when Sasuke made a carbon copy of himself.

Sasuke didn’t roll his eyes, no matter how much he wanted to, and he stood next to the group that had already been assessed. Among them were his teammates, Uzumaki and Haruno.

Yes, they were, unfortunately, his teammates. On the first day of classes, when Iruka-sensei had walked in, he had been carrying a large folder with all the new students’ profiles in it, arranged into groups designed to produce the best combinations of abilities possible.

So it had been no surprise that the latest generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho tripartite had been established, and it hadn’t fazed him when Hyūga Hinata—who was actually his distant cousin—had been grouped with Inuzuka and Aburame Shino, the bug boy. The tracking skills of Inuzuka and the honing skills of Aburame would be perfect  with Hinata’s scoping Byakugan.

It had, though, annoyed him to no end that he had been grouped with the two most insufferable people that he knew—Uzumaki and Haruno. He had wanted a good team to deal with, and the Heads of the school had thought it a smart idea to bunch him with two of the worst students. Uzumaki, for instance, knew nothing remotely academic-related, and Haruno was too busy checking her appearance and vying with the other girls for Sasuke’s notice.

So he was incredibly angry, but it wasn’t very dignified to throw a fit, so he’d stayed silent. Of course, the other two had been overjoyed at the news, and Sasuke had to deal with the two of them being maddening in their pursuit of his attentions. They had no idea what ‘not interested’ meant.

“That was amazing, Sasuke!” Haruno chirped and Sasuke offered her an indifferent _hn_ to keep her quiet.

He had found that if he gave the pink-haired kunoichi a sliver of attention, she tended to settle down for at least five minutes, and those precious minutes of silence were what Sasuke aimed for, especially now that the two most outspoken students (although Yamanaka Ino could contend for that title) were his teammates.

“Che!” Uzumaki commented. “You’re still a _teme_ , Sasuke.”

“Quite done, _dobe_?” Sasuke drawled.

They had picked up a form of addressing each other that, to strangers, could pass for friendly rivalry. It was quite the opposite though, and if they hadn’t been teammates, Sasuke would have easily ignored the blond in favor of mingling with a crowd of higher intellect. So they had resorted to calling each other names, a petty way of settling disagreements, Sasuke knew, but the only way that he was going to keep his sanity.

“ _Teme_!” Uzumaki hissed and Sasuke waved him away.

Kami, he hated this school.

 

*

 

**Second Year: Genin**

By the time Sasuke came back for his second year at Five Shinobi Institute, he was pleased to see that his efforts from last year had paid off. He had established his position as the best shinobi of his year, and his team had won the end-of-year exams, which had propelled their status to the top. Uzumaki was still an idiot, and Haruno was still crushing on him, but Sasuke could tolerate them now.

Year Two brought with it genin-level, which meant that their teams were fully established and they broke away from classes with Iruka-sensei. It wouldn’t have been a problem, only their new teacher, the well known Hatake Kakashi, was late.

“Dammit!” Uzumaki shouted, and if Sasuke were someone of a lesser patience, he would be throwing a tantrum as well.

But he wasn’t; he was Uchiha Sasuke, the latest up-and-coming star of his clan, following in the footsteps of his older brother Itachi. So, he stayed silent, even when Haruno gave a groan and thumped her head down onto her desk and reminded him of how much he wanted to do just the same.

Hyūga Neji, who had introduced himself on the first night back, had warned Sasuke about their new teacher earlier.

“He is renowned for refusing to be punctual,” the pale-eyed brunet had said, and Sasuke could see now that Neji hadn’t been exaggerating.

Hatake Kakashi was two hours late.

Sasuke let go of a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. It wouldn’t do to lose his temper after reigning it in for an entire year. He turned his thoughts to his cousin instead. Hyūga Neji appeared to be in the same position as him: trapped in a group with two people he detested. There was Rock Lee, the moron with the lurid green jumpsuit and too-big eyebrows who insisted on easing formalities and weird promises into his sentences. Then there was Tenten, the brunette kunoichi who was so similar to Haruno in the sense that she was a goner for Neji.

Sasuke frowned. The Five Shinobi Institute was meant to produce the finest shinobi and kunoichi, but it seemed that the only thing the school was good at was lumping together people who didn’t get on.

“Sorry I’m late,” a smooth voice interrupted his musings. “I was busy helping a young girl locate her missing cat and lost track of time.”

The excuse was unbelievable, in the simplest of terms, but Sasuke shrugged. Uzumaki and Haruno weren’t as reserved. Both let loose a torrent of shrieks along the lines of _yeah right_ and _you’re late_ , and Sasuke felt like sinking into the floor. One did not simply address _the_ Hatake Kakashi like that and expect to get away with it. They’d see soon enough.

“Alright, alright,” Kakashi-sensei waved a hand at the squabbling duo.

Sasuke stared and just stopped himself from dropping his jaw. He was letting them get away with it! Carefully, he rearranged his features into a blank expression, hoping that Kakashi-sensei would at least see that he was more mature than the two idiots he had to call his teammates.

He still hated this school.

 

*

 

Of course, being the best shinobi of his year meant that Sasuke could choose who he wanted in his closest circle of friends. He didn’t want one at all, but Itachi had been disappointed that he hadn’t made any friends the previous year, and Sasuke had vowed that if anything didn’t please Itachi, he would have to do his best to rectify the situation. Hence, before he had left for school, he had promised his aniki that he would try harder to gain a circle of close friends at least, and the small smile Itachi had given him had made it worth it.

As a result, Sasuke found himself in the company of Hyūga Neji and Nara Shikamaru more and more often as his second year began to take shape. It meant that the rest of their teams usually joined them, but Sasuke at least had two acquaintances that he tolerated far better than the rest, and if the reason he accepted Hyūga Neji as a close friend was party because he was slightly attracted to him, then that was his own business. Besides, Hyūga was his distant cousin; it would do well for him to make connections within his family tree.

Their initial meeting was one of strict civility, born out of the reality that they were related. Then Sasuke talked to Hinata for the first time and they all fell into an easy, if somewhat awkward, acquaintance.

And Neji was…Neji was good. Neji was the one person who Sasuke tolerated enough to talk to about things other than schooling; things that were more along the lines of emotions and stressful issues about family, and the best part was that Neji understood. He may have been silent and maybe indifferent, but he understood, and that was all that Sasuke required of him: to ensure that he wasn’t just a whining child aiming too high to get a proud look from his parents. Neji was the same, with the Hyūga and their twisted paranoia about their Byakugan and his birth in the lesser branch of his family.

One thing that wasn’t so good though, was Uzumaki, who remained ignorant of the social statuses erected last year and forwent the importance of connections in the shinobi world. He joked around a lot, befriending every possible person and easing his way into their social groups until they accepted him. At first, Sasuke had scoffed and thought _he’ll see soon enough_ , but the others had readily taken him in, and Sasuke had swallowed down the bitter taste of jealousy, knowing that at least his friendship circle was immune to the infuriating blond.

Not so. Within three days, Uzumaki had initiated himself into Sasuke’s friendship circle, bringing along the dog-boy, Inuzuka, and when Sasuke had confronted his cousin on why he had been so open to Uzumaki’s wiles, the brunet had shrugged, ignorant of the faint blush on his pale cheeks.

“I think you’re taking this rivalry a bit too far, Sasuke,” the pale-eyed Hyūga had said, but Sasuke was too angry to listen.

He really hated this school.

 

*

**Third Year: Chuunin**

Sasuke’s third year at Five Shinobi Institute did not start off well. He spent most of the first month as a recluse, shying away from everybody apart from his cousins, Hyūga Neji and Hinata. They were the only two who knew the extent of his situation, and they remained blessedly quiet.

Uzumaki cornered him on the starting day back with an enthusiastic hug and a cheery, “How was holidays, Sasuke? Che! What did you do to your arm?”

At this he poked at the dark blue cast on Sasuke’s forearm.

“I’m fine,” Sasuke lied through his teeth and shrugged the blond’s hand off, stalking away to the library.

Sasuke didn’t like lying; he hated it, in fact, but it wouldn’t do to start talking about the car accident. Besides, he didn’t want Uzumaki’s sympathy. He didn’t _need_ it. He’d survive.

Haruno was the only other person who had an inkling of what was wrong with him, and she tracked him down in the library, green eyes brimming with unshed tears. Perhaps the show of emotion over Sasuke’s grief made him cave, or maybe he’d grown soft; either way, Sasuke had no way to explain how he spent two hours in the pink-haired kunoichi’s arms. His cousins, sympathetic as they were, didn’t know how to offer anything other than verbal condolences, so it was possible that where they lacked in physical comfort, Haruno compensated. Whatever it was, Sasuke decided that Sakura, for all her feminine nuisances, wasn’t half bad. She was a good deal better than Uzumaki, at least.

He thought a lot. About his parents. About Itachi. The car crash was still a fresh memory, and so was the sensation of bones breaking when he’d punched the nearest wall. Itachi hadn’t cried. He had just looked…sad. All the time.

It was only when Sasuke had asked not to go back to school that Itachi had shown a sliver of emotion, bundling his brother up into a weary hug and saying, “I can’t keep you here either, otouto.”

Because their parents had decided to crash their car, Itachi had been the one to pick up the slack in the wake of the funeral, taking over their parents’ business empire and shipping his baby brother off to boarding school for convenience once more. Itachi was right. Sasuke was only a burden at his age, but the act still stung, and Sasuke hadn’t cared enough not to slam the door in his aniki’s face when he had first told Sasuke about sending him away again to the school he hated too much.

 

*

 

“Believe it!”

“Will you knock it off, Naruto?” Sakura said, and Sasuke stilled when her smooth hand rested over his shoulder.

Lately, the pink-haired kunoichi had been far more confident around him, and Sasuke hadn’t the heart to tell her to leave him alone. Besides, Sakura had been the only one who seemed to see beyond the daily sulking, and Sasuke still remembered their time in the library. It was polite, then, to cease snapping at her, if only to settle the debt he now had towards her.

“Hm,” Neji said from beside Sasuke, and Uzumaki rolled his eyes, yelling out when Inuzuka tackled him once more. “Naruto, your defense is sloppy.”

“Thank you, Neji,” the blond said sarcastically, but he backed it up with a grin and a wink and Sasuke felt like reaching out and clawing at Uzumaki’s stupid face.

“Stop staring at your boyfriend, Naruto,” Kiba called from underneath him and Uzumaki hit the brunet square in the chest. “Ouch!”

“Shut up, Kiba!” the blond complained, and Sasuke averted his gaze when the blond looked to him for help. “Sasuke, help a friend out here.”

“You’re not my friend,” Sasuke said coldly, burrowing further into the couch. The cast had been taken off a couple of days ago, and his wrist felt fragile, even though Lady Tsunade had declared it ‘good as new’.

If the comment hurt him, Uzumaki said nothing, instead turning to Neji again, “Oy, Hyūga, hold him down and we’ll take him out together.”

Sasuke glared at the blond. He should know better than to challenge one of Sasuke’s friends, especially a Hyūga at that. Sasuke glanced at his cousin, waiting for the brunet to refuse; the look of disappointment on Uzumaki’s face would be one that Sasuke would treasure for a long time.

Next to him, Neji uttered a long-suffering sigh, “Naruto.” Then he unfolded himself from the couch and joined the blond, “Fine.” At Sasuke’s noise of outrage, Neji gave him a steady look of indifference, “Oh really, Sasuke. Ease up a little, will you?”

Sasuke felt like spluttering a very undignified response, but he reigned it in and didn’t retort. Hyūga was being uneducated. He didn’t know anything of what Sasuke had just been through.

Still, in that instant, Sasuke hated him. He hated everything: his parents, his life, his brother for sending him to this forsaken institute. He hated this school so much.

 

*

 

To his dismay, though, Uzumaki just seemed to be growing more and more popular, until even the cold Sabaku no Gaara—the _jinchūriki_ who had come last year with a trail of murders lining the way and a near-death involving Rock Lee—hung onto his every word. It irritated Sasuke to no end.

Third year was coming to a close and Sasuke’s coldness had paid off; he was, although still popular with the girls because of his looks, a semi-outcast within the male populace of his year, and even Neji had decided Uzumaki was better company to hang out with, shooting a sad expression at Sasuke and replying, “You’re so jealous, Sasuke.”

Sasuke was not jealous; he was an Uchiha, one of the last of his family, and he would do well to remember it. He had a reputation to uphold, and if people were going to be chased away by his somewhat cold way of dealing with relationships, then so be it. They would be the minority in the end, regardless.

But being an Uchiha meant he was supposed to be in a position of power, whether it be over his own cohort, and he wasn’t doing a good job, thanks to fucking Uzumaki being loved by everybody. Uzumaki managed to trample over everything worth knowing, all the established rules and regulations of both the institute and common courtesy, and yet, everyone couldn’t get enough of him.

So when Uzumaki approached him one day and said in a solemn voice, “I heard about your parents, Sasuke. I’m sorry,” it was more of a subconscious than conscious decision to lash out at him.

“I don’t need your sympathy!” he shouted and the blond was there, trying to placate him. “Get the hell away from me, you fucking _idiot_!”

“Sasuke, Kami’s sake, _calm down_ ,” Uzumaki tried, and a combined effect of no sleep plus not enough eating and the emotional stress that he had placed himself under resulted in Sasuke blacking out.

_Screw everyone,_ Sasuke thought hatefully when he was tucked up in the infirmary later that day. _Screw everything_.

Sakura visited with a plate of dango and Sasuke accepted the gift with as much gratitude as he could muster. Even Sakura wouldn’t be allowed to see him cry, not after last time. Opening himself up to people would only give them control over him, and he couldn’t allow that. He was an Uchiha, and he would be damned if anyone came to be more powerful than him, even Uzumaki.

 

*

 

“Are you alright, Sasuke?”

Sasuke snorted and Neji nodded in understanding, “Sorry. I didn’t word that right. Are you…stable?”

“No,” Sasuke said through gritted teeth, aware of the weight behind Neji’s words and silently thankful that the brunet, though admittedly a little blunt, still cared enough.

The bed was uncomfortable, and Neji was very distracting like this, long brown hair falling over his shoulders and onto the bedspread like a dark waterfall as they lay side-by-side.

“I’m worried,” Neji admitted, pale eyes focused on his fingers where they were playing with a stray thread. “About you.”

“You shouldn’t be,” Sasuke said thickly, and Neji looked up at him and smiled sadly.

“I am, though,” he answered, and if Sasuke cried about it later, then no one would be the wiser.

For now, he issued a noncommittal movement to his shoulders and hugged the stuffy infirmary pillow closer to himself. Neji sighed heavily, then shifted to comb fingers through Sasuke’s hair comfortingly. It was easy to forget like this, and for the first time in too long, Sasuke felt himself drifting into an easy, dreamless sleep. He still hated the school, but maybe it wasn’t too bad, with Neji a reassuring presence amongst the chaos.

 

*

**Fourth Year: pre-Jounin**

Sasuke entered his fourth year with what could only be called apprehension. The holidays had been empty of any enjoyment, Itachi spending most of his time away at work, and the few times that he was around, he had little time to spare for his otouto. So Sasuke had spent the majority of his time in his room, collecting music CDs and reading.

He was fourteen; if he had thought girls were annoying before, he was to be even more annoyed at the attention he was getting now.

Uzumaki had grown too, and he greeted Sasuke by slinging a friendly arm around his shoulder, asking, “How was holidays, Sasuke?”

How the blond still liked him after the treatment Sasuke had given him last year escaped Sasuke’s mind, and he pushed the blond away, “They were fine.”

“Cool!” Uzumaki said, bounding away and looping his arms around Inuzuka and Gaara instead. “Sit with us, Sasuke.”

It was tradition to sit at your house’s table; that was the rule on the first day back. However, Uzumaki’s grin was inviting, and Sasuke was so _tired_ of having to be a diligent student.

“Where?” he said warily and Uzumaki inclined his head towards the table of the hidden house of the Mist.

“Come on! Sakura, you come too.”

Sasuke turned his head and found the pink-haired kunoichi standing next to him, asking, “What’s he on about now?”

“Sitting with him,” Sasuke intoned, suddenly remembering how much he disliked the blond.

“Are you going to?” Sakura questioned and Sasuke snorted.

“Of course not,” he answered stubbornly and stalked over to his own house’s table.

Stupid Uzumaki, screwing up the traditions once more. The jinchūriki was still a nuisance, and Sasuke was quickly remembering why he still hated this school.

 

*

 

They had a new team member, it turned out. The boy was thin and paler than Sasuke, with dark hair and smooth features that shifted into a smile that wasn’t quite there when he was introduced to Team 7 on the first day of studies.

“This is Sai,” Kakashi-sensei introduced him. “He’ll be a part of Team 7 from now on.”

They all knew better than to question their sensei on it, and he disappeared in a puff of chakra without further explanation, leaving the three of them standing alone with the new boy before them. Sasuke was at a loss as to what to do, and the other two appeared equally as dumbfounded, so for a moment there was nothing but an awkward silence until Sakura took the lead.

“I’m Haruno Sakura,” the pink-haired kunoichi introduced herself, and the boy, Sai, offered her another fake smile.

“Alright,” he replied, and Sasuke tilted his head, curious of the newcomer. The answer was a little too short, almost rude, but then again, Sasuke wasn’t the greatest to the female member of their team either, so perhaps he couldn’t be too judgmental.

Uzumaki introduced himself with the usual fervor, but Sai took it all in his stride, staring at Sasuke when he informed the boy of his identity and saying, “Uchiha…interesting.”

_Like you_ , Sasuke thought, but he didn’t voice the thought and it was chased away by Uzumaki spotting the boy’s paintbrush and asking him to draw something for him in exchange for his ‘lifelong loyalty’. Idiotic Uzumaki, once again.

Sakura sat down on the park bench, observing the raven draw a dragon for their blond teammate before patting the space beside her, “Sit down, Sasuke.”

He did. Kami, he was weak.

“How were holidays?” Sakura queried, expression silently pleading him to be honest with her.

Sasuke didn’t have time or patience enough to explain everything to her, so he gave her an evasive response, “Boring. I spent most of the time in my room.”

It was meant to be a light answer, but Sakura’s eyes clouded over with worry, and she laid a hand on his shoulder, “You know you can talk to me, okay? I’ll always be here.”

Sasuke didn’t say that he had Neji to turn to if anything ever went awry, or Hinata. It would be lost on the kunoichi and she would probably hold it against him if ever she found out that she was not his number one person for seeking comfort from. It was just a thing she would do.

“Thank you,” he said with difficulty, and Sakura was happy with the answer, because she settled back on the bench.

“Sasuke, Sakura, look!” Uzumaki called, motioning to the giant dragon that Sai had breathed life into.

It was swirling around the two of them, a great big black brute of a thing, with hastily drawn scales and sooty fire. Sai still had the funny smile on his face, but Uzumaki was immune to it, laughing boisterously and looping a familiar arm around the raven’s neck as a thanks.

Sakura laughed along with the two of them, and Sasuke felt like joining in. He hated this school. So much.

 

*

 

“Let’s go to the lake, Sasuke,” Neji prompted him.

It was just the two of them these days, plus Sakura, now that Nara had taken up the mantle of responsibility that came with being part of the Ino-Shika-Cho tripartite and thus spent less time with his former friends. Yamanaka Ino had started wearing orange to match Naruto, and Sakura had explained that it was to make Nara jealous; it was working.

“Yes, lets,” Sakura pleaded. “It’s so hot.”

Sasuke was perfectly fine staying where he was, curled up in the Leaf common room and hiding away from the sun, but the other two were not, and Sasuke, though selfish, was not one to deny his cousin’s wishes. Sakura was just an unavoidable variable in the equation.

“Okay,” he acquiesced, standing and taking Neji’s hand to help the brunet up.

Sakura looped her arm through his and snuggled into his side, “Thanks, Sasuke.”

“Whatever, Sakura,” he said as gently as he could, and carefully extricated himself from her grasp so as not to offend her. Angry Sakura was truly fearful.

The day was bright and sweltering, but the lake was surrounded by copses of trees, and huddled under the cluster was bug-boy Aburame and Hinata. Sasuke hazarded a guess that the two were either squeamish of water or simply too afraid of it, and the three of them—himself, Neji and Sakura—joined the pair.

“Hinata,” Neji spoke, moving next to his cousin and frowning when he caught sight of the faint pink tint to her skin. “Don’t get burnt.”

“No,” Hinata nodded. “I’m fine.” But she didn’t look fine, and Neji clearly wasn’t pleased, for he didn’t move immediately.

“Are you coming for a swim, Sasuke?” Sakura asked, and when Sasuke looked up to answer, he noticed that she had stripped out of her uniform to reveal a pink two-piece.

Sasuke often questioned himself on why he didn’t like Sakura. She was alright—once you got past the annoying emotional issues—healthy and smart, and her family background and heritage was strong, so Sasuke had no idea why he was so unreceptive towards her feminine graces.

“No,” he answered. “I’m not…I don’t want to.”

Sakura pouted, but Sasuke wasn’t about to heed her every wish, and if the current wish was that he take his shirt off and let her ogle him, then she would remain disappointed.

“Spoil-sport,” Neji teased from the left of Sasuke.

He was undressing, and each inch of marble skin that was revealed almost made Sasuke reach out to touch the brunet. He didn’t though, and Neji dove into the water before he could act on any urges.

“Neji!”

Sasuke didn’t need to look to know who the caller was, but he did anyway, and immediately wished he hadn’t. Uzumaki was easily the most popular boy in the year now, if not the school. It had something to do with how Sasuke had closed off for the majority of third year, and how Uzumaki had slid into the space that he left.

Also, Uzumaki was friendly, and cheerful, and brash, and ignorant; everything Sasuke wasn’t.

“Naruto,” Sasuke’s brunet cousin greeted, laughing loudly when Uzumaki splashed him.

_Yes_ , Sasuke thought bitterly. Uzumaki was everything he wasn’t, and the rewards were starting to show. Even his wretched cousin had joined the blond’s troupe of followers.

A commotion in the water, and then Rock Lee had leapt onto Inuzuka’s back in an attempt to stop the dog-boy from attacking Sakura.

“Lee!” Inuzuka whined and his beast of a dog joined in on the act with Uzumaki and Akimichi Chouji until the air was filled with the boys’ shouts and Ino and Sakura’s girlish squeals.

“Kiba, get off!” Uzumaki yelped when Inuzuka leapt on him. “Gods, you animal—”

The blond was suddenly cut off when Inuzuka kissed him flush on the lips. Sasuke raised a brow, taken aback, and Uzumaki pulled away, staring at the dog-boy as if he was trying to gauge the boy’s motive. Then he shrugged and leant in for another go.

Damned Uzumaki. Nara looked over at Sasuke then, as if he could read his thoughts, and Sasuke suddenly hated his traitorous musings. It wouldn’t do to be thinking about a teammate like _that._ Especially about Uzumaki. A small hand glanced hesitantly over Sasuke’s forearm and he looked down, starting when he noticed it was his cousin.

“Are…” Hinata broke off, a blush high on her still pink skin as she folded her hands over each other. “Are you…alright, Sasuke-san?”

Hinata insisted on using honorifics with him, and it was a habit that Sasuke hadn’t yet managed to break.

“Yeah,” he said a little too quickly, but Hinata nodded all the same and ducked back to sit with her teammate.

Stupid Uzumaki, going around kissing other boys. Sasuke sighed, leaning on one of the lower hanging branches of the tree. He couldn’t seem to get anything right these days. This damned school. And life. Life was damned too. Sasuke hated it all.

 

*

Bloody Sakura. Sasuke was never trusting the pink-haired kunoichi ever again. It was her fault that he was trapped in Suna common room, playing a game of Truth or Dare. Sasuke had wanted to leave immediately after realizing what they were doing, but unfortunately some bright star had thought it would be a good idea to place a chakra seal over the room so that no one could leave until everyone had a turn. The fact that he had Neji seated next to him helped alleviate some of his murderous thoughts, at least.

“Truth or Dare, hmm,” the long-haired blond with an affinity for clay, Deidara spoke, and it took Sasuke a moment to realize that he was the one being addressed.

“Huh? Oh.” Sasuke paused, mulling over the options.

If he chose ‘truth’, the weasel would probably try to gain some kind of private information that he had no right to, and then the entire room—probably the entire school, by the end of it—would know all the minute details of his life. A tiny dare was much more preferable.

“Any time today, Sasuke, hmm?” Deidara sang and Sasuke scowled.

“Dare,” he answered, trying to remember how many people had been and if they were anywhere near the end of this childish game.

“Kiss the person you like, yeah?” Deidara swept his arm around the room and Sasuke’s scowl deepened. Of course it would be something as petty as that.

“I don’t like anyone,” Sasuke lied.

“Bullshit,” Sasori, the blond’s partner chuckled. “Fine then; someone who you think is attractive, at least.”

Sasuke growled, “This game is retarded.”

“You can always pick truth, hmm,” Deidara reminded him and Sasuke vowed that once he was an ANBU, he’d murder both in their sleep.

“You’re an asshole,” he snapped, but still he turned and pressed his lips to Neji’s.

It was horrible and awkward and nothing at all like Sasuke had envisioned his first kiss with the brunet to be like, partly because Sasuke had never kissed anyone before, but mostly because the room had erupted in catcalls.

_I hate you all_ , Sasuke thought when he pulled away.

Neji was smiling a little, before he reached up and ruffled Sasuke’s hair, saying, “That was only because you think I’m attractive, right?”

“Of course,” Sasuke swallowed, easing away.

Neji’s smile was painful. The brunet was oblivious, rolling his eyes when it was his turn and commenting _are all your dares going to be make-outs_ before selecting truth. Sasuke decided that the world really was ending if his pious cousin was judging it safe to divulge a secret part of him without fear of any repercussions.

 

*

 

The graduating exams had just finished; an entire week of stressful exams designed to see if you were capable of moving up to jounin-level, and apparently, the entire cohort was. Sasuke had gone perfectly, as always, but only because he had spent every available minute consulting his textbooks and notes and practicing with his team.

The hard work had resulted in them winning the end-of-year exams again—fourth time in a row, now, after tying with Team Gai and Team Sabaku last year—and the post-exam celebration was in full swing by the time that Sakura and Neji dragged him down to the party.

It was being held in the Stone common room, but that didn’t stop other houses (and year-levels) from joining, so Sasuke soon found himself plastered between two Sand kunoichi and losing his grip on Sakura’s hand.

“Clumsy,” Sai’s face swam into view, and he grasped the hand that had lost Sakura’s, pulling Sasuke over to the edge of the room.

“Thanks,” Sasuke said begrudgingly and Sai offered him that same, false smile. He still interested Sasuke, even if he was nearly as weird as Uzumaki. “Have you seen the rest of our team?”

“Over there,” Sai nodded, and Sasuke turned just in time to see Uzumaki stumble in.

Someone had obviously gotten the blond drunk, because he was staggering all over the place, bumping into various people and apologizing profusely, the victims laughing along with him.

“Kami,” Sasuke groaned, wondering if he would have to be the responsible team member and take the blond back up to the Leaf dorms.

“He’s very intoxicated,” Sai pointed out uselessly and Sasuke rubbed a hand over his face.

Uzumaki ran into Neji and Sasuke grit his teeth, deciding that yes, he would have to be the adult in the situation. Neji was grinning widely at something the blond had mumbled into his ear, and then the blond leaned back and planted a messy kiss on Neji’s lips.

Sasuke stopped, a lump clawing its way up his throat. Neji’s smile had, if anything, grown bigger, and Uzumaki moved his shoulders as if to say _yeah?_ He must have gotten an affirmative, because then he kissed the brunet again, and Neji…Neji kissed back like it was all he had wanted since laying eyes on Uzumaki.

Sasuke guessed he should have seen it coming, but it still hurt. Like a bitch. He was distantly aware of Sai tugging on his arm and spouting off about some random observation, but he paid it no heed, tearing away and stalking back to the confines of his bed.

He hated this damned school so so _so_ much.

 

*

**Fifth Year: Jounin**

 

Fifth year began with Inuzuka brutally slamming Aburame up against the wall the first day back and saying, “You know I fancy you, right?”

That was the first _day_.

It took some getting used to, seeing the two after that and remembering _hey, those two are a couple now_ , because they’d always had a strong rivalry in all their time at the Five Shinobi Institute. Hinata had said as much, voicing her worries over the two’s constant competition with each other and saying that it was all a battle of dominance for the pair, especially after last year, where the two hadn’t talked for a month and a half, right before the end-of-year exams.

And now this, Inuzuka and Aburame, a couple.

Sasuke wondered if the bug-boy had told his parents of the union, because the Aburames prided themselves on their reserve and strict following of tradition, which meant that the bug-boy was probably already betrothed to some other bug-girl and they’d wed after school and produce more bug-children. The Inuzukas were far less reticent; they were savages, rebellious in their nature and didn’t care for conventional practices like suitable marriages and producing heirs. In the crudest sense, their life motto was ‘if it feels good, go for it’.

So Sasuke pondered on the compatibility and longevity of the relationship; surely, both parties wanted it at least, but that didn’t mean there were other variables to be wary of.

The second thing that took up Sasuke’s attention was being mature in his relationship with Neji. Neji hadn’t been aware of how much Sasuke had liked him, and afterwards, Sasuke couldn’t hate the brunet, half in love with him as he was at the time. So Neji and he had spent most of the holidays together, blissfully Uzumaki-free thanks to the blond spending his vacation with Team Sabaku.

The third and final was that, try as he might, Sasuke still detested Uzumaki with every ounce of his being, and he couldn’t pinpoint why. Neji had talked things over with him, had requested that he be more civil with the blond, so Sasuke would try, for his cousin, at least. But it was so _difficult_ , and patience and acceptance had never been Sasuke’s strong point.

Unlike the previous years, Uzumaki didn’t greet him this time, giving Sasuke a nod in acknowledgement before sitting with a group of jounin from the hidden house of the Wind. Somehow, that made Sasuke want to shake the blond and say _I still exist, you fucktard, you don’t get to ignore me now that you’re the most popular_.

“Don’t,” Neji warned when Sasuke growled, and he followed his cousin to the Leaf table in relative silence, simmering.

“I wasn’t going to,” Sasuke protested feebly, trying to appease the brunet, and his cousin gave him a knowing look.

“Sure,” the brunet drawled, sitting up when Hinata trailed in, blushing hotly. “Hinata? What is it?”

“Kiba and Shino,” Hinata stuttered, sitting next to Sasuke without another word.

Her midnight hair was long enough to rival Neji’s and Sasuke stared at it for a moment, fascinated for some strange reason. It was bluer than Neji’s, whose was more chocolate than anything else, and closer to Sasuke’s own color. He thought—strangely—of Sai, whose hair was pure black, before forcing his focus back to his cousin. He had a fair idea of why Sai kept popping into his head, but he wasn’t about to acknowledge it, not even to himself.

Neji pinched the bridge of his nose to quell his frustration before reaching out and placing a tender hand on Hinata’s forearm, “Can I do anything?”

“No,” Hinata shook her head firmly. “No, I’m very happy for them. Just…”

“I see,” Neji interpreted her silence correctly and shifted his focus to Sasuke. “Don’t you kill them either.”

“Of course not,” Sasuke frowned, thinking that his cousin was meant to know him better than that.

“Thank you,” Hinata finished, looking at both her cousins as if daring them to contradict her.

They didn’t. Sai sat next to Sasuke a couple of minutes later and the Hyūga and Uchiha males stayed silent as Hinata politely inquired what Sai had drawn lately. Sasuke wasn’t going to deny it; the raven was still intriguing, regardless of the strange personality he had, and when Sai smiled at him, a proper, unguarded one, one that felt real, he felt a strange shifting in his gut, as if the pain over Neji not liking him had…faded, a little.

 

*

 

Uzumaki Naruto was a flirt. An annoying, overbearing, loud-mouthed, enthusiastic flirt. It was, he had evaluated, part of the reason why Sasuke hated him so much. The blond was so infuriating in the sense that he belonged to the Leaf yet seemed to have inserted himself to every house; still got good grades despite goofing around too much (though that could be put down to Sakura goading him on); and had a thing against speaking at normal levels of conversation.

Sasuke still hated him.

He wasn’t sure what his cousin and the blond had, but whatever it was, it was clearly beyond platonic friendship, given the fact that the two of them were sitting in the opposing couch, curled around each other. Sasuke had thought his cousin would be more reserved in his displays of public affection, but apparently not, especially upon thinking of that disastrous party last year. Neji was still beautiful, and Uzumaki, well. The gods had been kind to him, at least.

No longer did he wear that ridiculous orange and black jumpsuit, although that had been a drastic improvement from the blue, white and orange one he had originally worn. Now, he wore the traditional jounin uniform, and though it was still colored a horrible shade of orange and mixed with black, it was a good deal better than his previous choices of clothing.

Not only that, but Uzumaki had grown up. He was taller, more tanned, and his shoulders had widened considerably, giving way to a tapered waist that one would have to be a fool not to notice. Sasuke had, and Sasuke hated the guy.

Yes, Uzumaki had turned out alright in the end, and the latest gaggle of admirers of both sexes only proved Sasuke’s observations right.

He shifted, trying to divert his attentions away from his cousin and his partner—who had started to kiss each other playfully—and failing, miserably. He wasn’t meant to be getting turned on by this, dammit, and yet still, his trousers were suddenly too tight.

“Everything okay, Sasuke?” Sai’s smooth voice came from beside him, and Sasuke nodded stiffly and moved as discreetly as possible.

“Fine,” Sasuke said in a monotone, scowling at the pair in front of him.

Damn the two of them, really. They were both too attractive for their own good.

 

*

 

“Are you and Uzumaki going out?” Sasuke asked that night.

The dorm was empty thanks to the Hidden House of the Stone holding a party, so it was just the two of them. Even Sai wasn’t present. Last year, maybe, being alone with Neji might have caused Sasuke to feel happy and nervous and hopeful, but the familiar emotions didn’t make an appearance, and Sasuke found himself slightly saddened and disappointed.

“Don’t be silly,” Neji shook his head, tangling a hand in Sasuke’s hair and combing it in the same manner that he always did when he was comforting him. “It’s just for fun.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Sasuke warned him.

“I don’t like him, if that’s what you’re asking,” Neji replied. “Not anymore.”

“But you did.”

“Last year, yes,” Neji said thoughtfully.

“Does he like you then?”

At this Neji turned a bit pink, “No. No he likes…someone else. Always has.”

Sasuke wanted to ask who the blond liked, or what exactly the blond and his cousin were doing then, if neither liked each other, but he didn’t. His cousin may have been his closest friend, but that didn’t mean that secrets flowed easily between them. It just simply wasn’t the Uchiha (or Hyūga, for that matter) way.

“Besides,” Neji said with a hint of a laugh behind his words. “Naruto’s a bit like a butterfly. Always onto the next person to shower them with affection.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“No. I love him too much for that.”

“But you just said—”

“There are different types of love, Sasuke,” Neji reminded him gently. “You’ve got to understand that Naruto has helped me through a lot. Back in second year…I had a lot of issues and he helped me through them.”

“Where was I?” Sasuke said, hurt. All those times he’d poured his heart out to his cousin, thinking that he understood.

“I couldn’t dump it on you, Sasuke,” Neji shrugged. “You needed someone to talk to, not one who would unload their issues onto you in return.”

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke said, surprised when he felt the familiar burning sensation behind his eyes.

“Me too,” Neji nodded, and Sasuke wasn’t sure what the brunet was referring to anymore. “Don't be mad at Naruto, will you? Now you see why I’ve not shared your hatred of him. He’s a good person. It’s why he’s suddenly so accepted in the school; he listens to people and he accepts them, regardless if others hate them.”

“Really?” Sasuke said disbelievingly. Then, a little childishly, “I still hate him.”

“I don’t see why,” Neji pointed out. “He’s done nothing to make you be mad at him.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Sasuke said, because he didn’t really understand it himself.

“No,” Neji said slowly. “No, I think I do. A little, at least.” He blinked slowly, and those pale eyes refocused on something beyond Sasuke’s head as he spoke, “Just…try and be nice. You said you would during the holidays.”

“Maybe,” Sasuke didn’t promise.

Instead he kissed his cousin on the lips shortly, Uzumaki be damned. If he thought hard enough about it, he could imagine he had kissed Uzumaki instead.

 

*

 

Studies were hard to focus on when life was full of uncertainties. It seemed normal these days that Uzumaki was found in the company of another, locked in an embrace of some kind or another, whether it be a passionate kiss or a simple hug. It didn’t make much sense, even with Neji’s explanation of _Naruto’s a bit like a butterfly, always onto the next person to shower them with affection._

As far as Sasuke was concerned, the blond was just an attention whore, and seeing him with so many other people almost made Sasuke wonder _why haven’t you done that to me?_ Then he remembered how cold he was to the blond, and perhaps it should have made him resolve to be nicer to him—he had promised his cousin, after all—but it didn’t. Sasuke still hated him, and the blond’s popularity had nothing to do with it.

Sakura had finally gotten over her crush on Sasuke, and as a result, he found he could tolerate her more now that the relationship-issue was out the way. It meant that she hung out with him less and less now, which was fine by him, and he often saw her with Rock Lee, walking together and talking happily.

Seeing his friends content with their lives made something sad and unbridled curl up inside of him; heck, even Uzumaki had managed to get his story right, and look how badly he had been treated for the first part of his life.

So it shouldn’t have surprised him when he found himself with Sai, the raven’s pale lips hard against his and that lithe body pressing into him. Of course he would resort to pity; where else could he turn to, when even his cousin was off-limits? Nothing really mattered though; the party was in full swing, a celebration of the mid-year exams being passed, and all Sasuke could think of was how interesting Sai was.

Perhaps he was drunk.

Maybe this was why Uzumaki went around, offering his love to anyone who would have it. Physical affection was just so effective, even if it was a little uncouth.

The next morning Sai had reverted back to his normal state, acting like they hadn’t spent an hour or two making out, and if Sakura and Uzumaki spied the constellation of hickeys on both Sai and Sasuke, then they didn’t rib them about anything, and Sasuke could pretend that he’d imagined the way Uzumaki’s fists had clenched as he’d glared at Sasuke.

“What’s the matter, _dobe_?” Sasuke drawled, confused when the blond looked away.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” the blond said lowly, and Sasuke didn’t know what to retort.

It didn’t matter anyway, because the blond stood up sharply and stalked off. Sasuke felt like shouting at the blond to explain himself, but in the next instant, Uzumaki had been accosted by a brunette sixth-year, an ANBU, and Sasuke felt the argument die in his throat as the blond laughed and kissed back.

Gods, he wasn’t fucking jealous, really. He just hated the blond.

 

*

 

It was two o’clock in the morning when Uzumaki slipped back into the Leaf common room, way past the curfew of ten-thirty. The only reason Sasuke knew was because he was seated on one of the couches closest to the fireplace, bawling his eyes out like a child in privacy rather than upstairs where his cousin and the rest of the male populace of Leaf would no doubt catch him.

He hadn’t meant to come down to cry, exactly, but it had happened anyway, hadn’t it?

“Sasuke,” the blond paused on his way across the room to the dorms.

“What, _dobe_?” Sasuke sniffed, angrily wiping at his face, annoyed with himself for letting the blond see him being so weak.

“Are you…” the blond trailed off, searching for words. He stepped closer, “What happened?”

“None of your fucking business,” Sasuke snapped, glaring resolutely at the fire so that he wouldn’t have to look at the blond. “For fuck’s sake, go away.”

If Uzumaki had anything to say, he didn’t voice it, saying, “Fine. I just…fucking hell, never mind.”

Sasuke kept staring at the fire and told himself that Uzumaki’s hurt tone was just imaginary, shifting his thoughts to the future. In five months, the year would be over and Sasuke could go home to the empty Uchiha household. Maybe he’d catch Itachi for once before the raven had to leave for work, and that would be alright. That would make everything okay, for the moment. Then sixth year would arrive and Sasuke would survive and pass with flying colors, as always, and after that, seventh year.

Then he’d never have to see Uzumaki or any of the bastards he called his cohort ever again.

 

*

**Sixth Year: ANBU**

They were ANBU now, which meant another uniform change. 

Uzumaki; of course he would choose a fox mask. He was a jinchūriki, after all. Sasuke himself picked out a blue cat, and Sakura hid her face behind a pink dog mask. Sai had already been an ANBU before, a factor that the rest of Team 7 had always questioned him on without receiving any answers, so when Sai rocked up in the same uniform as always, they all shrugged it off. He had a bear mask, and Sasuke was surprised that he didn’t pick out the ANBU uniform on Sai before. Perhaps it was the cut-off top.

“How were holidays, everyone?” Sakura greeted in a tired voice. She had finally let her hair grow out, and it swept around her shoulders in cherry blossom pink waves.

“Good,” Uzumaki nodded, crooking his arm around her neck and pulling her to him to plant a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

He had gotten bigger, shoulders filling out the ANBU uniform in all the right places.

“Gross, Naruto,” Sakura complained and the blond chuckled at her. “How were yours, Sasuke?”

Sasuke thought about his own holidays. He hadn’t done much, apart from helping Itachi out at work. His aniki hadn’t wanted him to be working, but Sasuke had wanted to help, and he figured it was better to occupy himself with crunching numbers rather than sitting at home and moping over his feelings.

“Boring,” Sasuke intoned. “As usual.”

“Well, if you’d replied to my messages,” Sakura said, reminding Sasuke of the build-up he had acquired over the summer months. “The four of us would have hung out together if you had answered at least one.”

“I was busy,” Sasuke said too quickly and Sakura sighed.

 

*

Being ANBU meant that they were assigned missions of a far higher caliber than what they had been given in the years earlier, and there wasn’t much time to dwell on stupid things like emotions and feelings.

Sakura was going out with Rock Lee, a fact that she had wanted to reveal to him over the holidays. Sasuke had actually felt apologetic when she told him, but he figured he would have guessed it from the very first time he saw the two together again, going by their familiar body language. The only thing that annoyed him about the union was that he seemed to be the only person in the entire grade who hadn’t known about them. Gods, even Gaara knew.

And speaking of Sabaku…there were disadvantages to being cousins-slash-best-friends with someone who suddenly decided to take an interest in a certain friend of an arch-nemesis. The cousin was Neji, because Hinata was crushing on the arch-nemesis, and the certain friend was Sabaku no Gaara. Sasuke hadn’t noticed much at first, until the brunet kept disappearing at odd times.

“Where’ve you been?” Sasuke had asked the first time Neji had returned, slightly flushed and not at all collected and reserved as his normal self.

“Up on the rooftops,” Neji had replied airily, ever the pompous Hyūga when they were with others. “Gaara was showing me his artwork.”

Sasuke had wondered if there were any euphemisms in his cousin’s words, before leaving it alone. Who his cousin was interested in was none of his business, especially now that he didn’t like the brunet anymore. It had been a silly childhood crush, over before it had ever really begun, and Sasuke was slightly glad that Neji had been ignorant. He hated to think of what might have occurred if they ever had gone out and broken up later.

So Sasuke left it alone. He had ANBU-level to get through, and it wouldn’t do to get caught up in emotions like he had done for the majority of his past schooling-life.

Then Neji started spending more and more time on the rooftops with Gaara and Sasuke saw the situation for what it was. His best friend had moved on, and Sasuke was still trapped in the prison of hurt that he’d built up around himself.

He was so fucking weak.

 

*

 

Running into Gaara halfway through the night in one of the hallways of the Leaf wasn’t a surprise. The guy was nocturnal, after all. It was more of a surprise when Sasuke let his anger get the best of him and he punched the redhead in the face.

“What the fuck?” the redhead asked in his deathly quiet voice, fingers touching his nose and coming away covered in fragments of sand.

“Sorry,” Sasuke apologized immediately, wondering if he should be more worried about being alone with the ex-murderer than what Neji would say if he ever found out that Sasuke had punched his partner. “Hold still, would you?”

“Don’t touch me,” the redhead protested and Sasuke gripped the redhead’s jaw, surprised when a claw of sand batted him away.

“I’m trying to heal you, dammit,” Sasuke muttered, but the claw of sand didn’t release him and Gaara was staring at him coolly.

“I’ll heal,” Gaara spoke, and already Sasuke could see that the sand was doing its job, forming a new skin around him once more.

“Don’t tell Neji,” Sasuke stated and the redhead smirked.

“And why shouldn’t I?”

“Because jinchūriki or not, I’ll still kill you if you hurt him,” Sasuke threatened, but Gaara was immune to his death glare.

“Like you can talk about hurting people,” the redhead scoffed, shaking free of Sasuke’s grip. “Don’t touch me.”

“About who?” Sasuke frowned, bewildered, and Gaara started to walk away, refusing to give him an answer.

 

*

 

Uzumaki was ignoring him. That much was obvious after the fifth week, when Sasuke came to the realization that they hadn’t exchanged more than a few clipped sentences with each other. Even their sparring was failing, with neither party daring to touch each other. It was unnerving in the least, and irritating at best, but a small part of Sasuke that refused to shut up said that he missed the blond.

That wasn’t a good thing, but it was true.

Uzumaki barely looked at him now.

Even so, Sasuke was stubborn enough to go along with it and within the next week, they were both rolling around on the floor, paying no heed to Sakura’s scolding and attempting to kill each other instead. Sasuke couldn’t even remember what they had been fighting about, only that he had started it (oh, the gods hated him right now, he deserved to die by Uzumaki’s hand) and that the blond hadn’t let the issue go, retaliating when Sasuke had punched him first.

“Fuck off, Uzumaki!” Sasuke ground out from where he was trapped underneath the blond.

He grunted when the blond wrapped his hand around Sasuke’s neck and used the grip to slam his head into the floor, hard, praying to whatever god to kill him now instead of from Uzumaki’s doing as his vision spun and he saw stars. Granted, Sasuke had asked for the attack, stabbing the blond repeatedly in the stomach with his kunai, but still. This was just fighting dirty.

“No!” Uzumaki shouted back and on the third slam, Sasuke blacked out for a moment. “You’re always being such a _bitch_ —”

He never finished the insult, because in the next instant Sasuke had seized the blond’s forearms and gotten a knee up between them. The extra leverage helped, and Sasuke pushed the blond onto his back, locating a lone kunai in the blond’s pocket and plunging it vindictively into Uzumaki’s shoulder. So what if Uzumaki could play dirty? Sasuke could too.

The scream of pain the blond let loose was worth everything, and Sasuke inwardly admitted that he was a sadistic bastard as he dragged the blade down to prolong the sound, slicing away precious muscle tissue and tendons and ligaments and finding he couldn’t give a damn when the blond, with an animalistic cry, lunged up at him and smashed him into the ground once more.

“I hate you,” Uzumaki choked out, blood flowing profusely from his ruined arm as he summoned a blue ball of chakra, blue eyes glazing over with tears for once, and Sasuke didn’t know if they were from the pain or from Sasuke being a little shit. Probably both. “Kami, I hate hate _hate_ you so fucking much.”

“Then the feeling’s mutual!” Sasuke yelled, knowing he was crying and hating himself for it because it meant the blond would know that the words had cut him to the bone.

Uzumaki didn’t say anything more, and it was so much easier to conjure _chidori_ and meet the blond’s _rasengan_ halfway.

 

*

 

Later, Sasuke would question himself on why he was so bitter; dead parents couldn’t be all that was wrong with him, could it?

The two of them were trapped in the infirmary, in neighboring beds, and Sasuke’s thoughts were in a turmoil. Uzumaki was deathly quiet, and the only other sound in their room apart from their uneven breaths was the muted beeping of the monitors they had been hooked up to. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that Sakura had gotten Kakashi, otherwise they would both be dead now. Their sensei had been most unhappy, probably because they had called him away from his partner—Iruka-sensei, surprisingly—and had only just managed to stop them from killing each other.

Sakura hadn’t visited either of them yet, and Sasuke suspected that she probably wouldn’t, which was a bad sign. The female member of Team 7 had always been the most lenient of the four of them, even with that temper of hers, and for her not to show up meant she hadn’t forgiven them yet. Yeah, definitely not a good sign.

Uzumaki was still silent, but when Sasuke looked over to the next bed, he caught the tear tracks on the blond’s whiskered cheeks and felt something pull at his chest, something foreign and familiar at the same time.

“N…Naruto?” he spoke softly, feeling that his volume was still too loud in the room’s quietude.

“What?” the blond answered gruffly, voice thick and husky.

“I’m…sorry,” Sasuke said with difficulty, and he felt the air thicken with even more tension than before. He didn’t even know what he was apologizing for; the fight? He guessed he might have been repenting for the past few years.

“Whatever,” the blond replied, shifting over onto his side, away from Sasuke, and that stung.

Sasuke looked up at the stark white ceiling, unsure of what to feel. His eyes felt hot and stingy, and the lump in his throat hadn’t dislodged itself. He turned over to his side, towards the window, and almost missed the blond’s next words. Something along the lines of _I can’t get anything right with you, can I?_

 

*

 

“Not impressed,” Sakura said as soon as she saw them out of the infirmary.

They were both still wrapped in bandages, Naruto’s right leg in a bright orange cast and Sasuke’s forearm in dark blue one—his weak one, again. The blond was as hyperactive as ever, even if it was a little more ratty than happy, but Sasuke still bit the inside of his cheek to refrain from smiling at him. That wouldn’t do.

He watched Sakura instead, taking in her furious expression. Sasuke had been right; she hadn’t visited them once, even though her boyfriend had visited Naruto a couple of times during the week that they had been trapped there.

It was apparent that she was far away from forgiving them.

“What the hell were you thinking, Sasuke?” she glowered.

“Go complain to someone else,” Sasuke waved her away, feeling a headache looming, and the pink-haired kunoichi gave him a fierce look before turning on Naruto with a tailor-made reprimand.

“Go away, Sakura,” Naruto grumbled; it was the first time that Sasuke had seen the blond reject their female teammate.

“Sort yourselves out,” Sakura snapped, throwing her hands up in the air. “Kami knows, I’ve had enough of both of you,” she finished, before stalking off, pink hair flying in the wind.

Sai looked at the two of them and shrugged, before following her, and Sasuke glared at the raven’s retreating form. Coward. Naruto cleared his throat, leaning on his crutches and appraising Sasuke.

“Did you mean it?” he queried, blue eyes boring into him, and it took Sasuke a moment to realize what the blond was on about.

“You know I did.”

“Do I?” Naruto retorted.

Sasuke didn’t have anything to say to that, and the blond rolled his eyes and left. No sooner had he gone five paces before a pair of blondes from Suna joined him, cooing over his cast and hugging him. One of them glanced back, found Sasuke’s gaze and gave him a black look, as if the blond’s injuries were his fault. They were, most of them, but it still irked Sasuke and he padded off in the other direction.

There were so many reasons he hated this school, and Naruto was still the biggest reason why.

 

*

 

“Any reason you pulled that stunt with Naruto?” Neji asked him a week later. It was one of the few times that the raven was not with Gaara, and Sasuke was going to make the most of it. “I thought I asked you to try.”

“I apologized?” Sasuke offered, and Neji sighed.

“After nearly killing him, yes.”

Sasuke curled away from his cousin. The common room was deserted, but that was because of the late hour—just past midnight—and the snow was packing in thick outside, the glass panels frosting over with the oncoming claws of winter. The fireplace was doing little to ease the chill of the room, but Itachi always said that Sasuke was a wimp when it came to temperature extremes, so he was keeping his mouth shut from complaining, pulling his sleeves down further on his hands until they were almost fully covered instead.

“Why do you hate him so much?” Neji questioned gently. “It would be fully justified if he had done anything to you, but he hasn’t. Ever. Unless you want to fess up about some dark secret that you’ve been hoarding.”

“No.” Sasuke shook his head, hating to admit that he was wrong. “Naruto’s…he’s done nothing.”

“What, then? What’s got you so bitter?”

Sasuke took a breath, tried, found that he couldn’t say it, and closed his mouth again. His cousin looked at him expectantly and he blurted, “He’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted that I can’t have.”

There. He had said it.

Relief and shame crashed down and Sasuke cringed, seeing how immature the situation was, and how he hadn’t handled it very well at all. He was meant to be better than this, he was a fucking Uchiha, and yet here he was, screwing up everything over one damned boy.

“Well. Fuck.” Neji said conversationally, and Sasuke hid his face in his hands.

“Shut up, Neji.”

“You’re not very wise, for an Uchiha, Sasuke,” Neji intoned, long fingers tapping on the armrest.

“I know.”

“I’m half torn between killing you and comforting you,” Neji mused, and Sasuke glanced up, confused.

“What?”

“You’re such a blind idiot,” Neji pointed out. “You’re a star student and you can’t even get this right.”

“Are we done with the whole ‘attack Sasuke at his weakest’ thing?” Sasuke pleaded, but it was so like his cousin to not let him go on the issue.

“Far from it,” the brunet said coolly, marble features settling into a flawless frown. “You’ve been a right bastard to him, all because you’re too selfish.”

“Leave me alone, Neji.”

“And you wonder why Naruto’s the popular one now.”

“This isn’t about popularity!” Sasuke retaliated. “This was never about popularity, okay?”

“What then?” Neji prompted sarcastically. “Please, do tell me. I’m all ears.”

“Kami, I hate you.”

“How often have you said that to Naruto?” Neji challenged, pale eyes glinting.

“I haven’t—oh, _fuck you_ ,” Sasuke spat, standing and heading for the door.

It was past curfew, but he didn’t care; a thousand detentions would be better than staying here with his cousin staring him down and the truth hanging between them like a dead body.

“You can’t keep running away, Sasuke,” Neji called after him and Sasuke slammed the door, knowing his cousin was right and wishing he wasn’t.

 

*

 

After punching Gaara that one time, it really shouldn’t have been surprising when he got attacked by the redhead for trying to kill Naruto, but then again, Sasuke was distracted and the redhead was furious.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t end your pathetic life right now, Uchiha,” Gaara said venomously, the sand creeping up around Sasuke’s throat and tightening painfully.

“Neji,” Sasuke gasped out. Wrong answer, because the sand got even more compressed. “ _Kami_ —”

“You deserve to die,” Gaara spoke, tilting his head curiously. “It would be so easy, too.”

“How many—” Sasuke choked off when the sand built up around his chest and squeezed. “How many others?” _Have you killed in cold blood?_

“Countless,” Gaara shrugged. “You’d only be another number.”

“Ha,” Sasuke huffed out, wincing when it got harder to breath in the constricted space.

“Have you any idea of what you’ve done to Naruto?” Gaara questioned.

“Apart from nearly killing him?”

“That too,” Gaara’s eyes narrowed.

The sand covered most of Sasuke now, save his face, “Tell me then.”

“So arrogant,” Gaara criticized. “I still don’t know why Neji likes you.”

“We’re cousins.”

“I hate my own brother, Uchiha.”

“I’m not as fucked up as you—” Sasuke wheezed as the sand gripped his throat in a vice, making it nearly impossible to breath.

“I beg to differ,” the redhead drawled, releasing the grip when Sasuke’s vision started to gain spots.

“Stop fighting—Naruto’s battle,” Sasuke uttered with difficulty, sucking in a lungful of air. “Get him—tell him to—tell him to fight his own—battles, gods.”

“Like he hasn’t tried,” Gaara mocked. “You can call this entering into ‘overprotective friend’ mode since the other option has failed.”

“You? Overprotective?”

“Watch it, Uchiha,” Gaara warned. “We both know I could kill you in a heartbeat.”

“You won’t, though,” Sasuke taunted and the redhead grinned, feral and wild.

“Try me,” he sneered, and the last thing Sasuke saw was a flash of blond before he blacked out.

 

*

 

Itachi’s face was the first thing that Sasuke’s eyes focused on when he came to. He was back in the infirmary, tucked up in one of the beds and hooked up to Kami knew how many monitors, going by the amount of cords protruding from him.

He tried to suck in a breath, found that he had tubes attached to his nose, and tried through his mouth instead. Everything ached, like he had broken every available bone in his body.

His brother, who had always seemed to know what Sasuke was thinking, spoke softly, “Try not to move too much, otouto.”

“Why,” Sasuke said, but his throat was parched and the words stuck in his throat, so all that came out was a feeble noise, like that of a wounded animal.

“Your bones are still healing,” Itachi answered the unspoken question. “The only bone you didn’t break was your skull.”

Sasuke winced, coughed, and then felt like crying when the sensation felt like sandpaper rubbing over a raw wound. His mouth tasted bad, as if something slimy had died in it overnight, and everything just _hurt_.

His aniki pressed a cool palm to his forehead, brushing away the bangs there, “So, otouto. Why don’t you tell me everything?”

“’Kay,” Sasuke managed, before his brother offered him a drink. It had a straw, bless the gods.

“I know I haven’t been…here for you, physically, all the time,” Itachi said slowly. “But I’d like to think that at least you would have trusted me.”

“You were busy,” Sasuke replied, and the words didn’t rip his throat apart as before.

Itachi looked hurt, “I always have time for you, otouto.”

Sasuke turned his gaze away. “I hate him so much.”

“And who is ‘him’?”

Sasuke blinked, blinked again, and then hated himself for being unable to stop from crying. All this amount of drama for one boy, really. It was getting—no, not getting, it _was_ ridiculous.

Itachi’s hand was still stroking his forehead soothingly, “Sasuke…”

“Was I ever good enough?”

The hand stilled, and Itachi regarded him with an unreadable expression, “To whom?”

“Our parents.”

“Always,” Itachi said firmly. “Stop evading the question, otouto.”

A sigh. “Uzumaki Naruto.”

“The jinchūriki,” Itachi nodded in understanding. “Do you like him or something?”

“I… _yeah_ ,” Sasuke breathed in disbelief, wondering why it had taken him so long to realize.

“So what’s the problem then?”

“He hates me now.”

“I hardly think so, seeing as he had to forcibly be dragged out of here so I could get you alone,” his aniki drawled, the hand that wasn’t stroking his hair coming up to cup his face. “My silly otouto; you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, do you?”

Sasuke didn’t have an answer for that, and it was just as well, because Itachi kissed his jaw, then his cheek, and finally pressed two fingers to his temple before saying no more. There were so many reasons why Sasuke loved his aniki, and his ability to understand without asking too much was just one of them.

An hour passed in silence, with Sasuke drifting in and out of consciousness as Itachi kept a reassuring hand in his hair. His comfort was on a far higher level than any time that Neji had done this for him, and Sasuke realized how much he had missed his older brother.

“Do you want me to take you home?” Itachi asked finally. “Holidays are three weeks away, and you can come back for just the end-of-year exams.”

There were so many things to be done, like apologizing to Naruto and resurrecting his fragmented relationships with his team, but Itachi was offering him a temporary way out, and Sasuke wasn’t strong enough to say no.

He nodded.

 

*

 

**Seventh Year: Missions (AKA sort yourselves out for a year)**

 

Sasuke almost didn’t go back for seventh year. Kimimaro, one of Itachi’s associates (both in work and in the bedroom, Sasuke suspected) invited him to join the School of Sound Shinobi for the rest of the year, and so Sasuke hid behind the ‘healing’ excuse (fucking Gaara and his fucking _sand coffin_ technique) for a couple of months whilst attending.

He liked it, a lot.

Under Orochimaru, the headmaster, he blitzed his sixth year exams, and was sorely tempted to transfer for seventh year, but Itachi had wordlessly reminded him of his responsibilities back at the Five Shinobi Institute by leaving a book on his bed—the _Icha Icha Paradise_ book that Naruto had filched from Kakashi and thrown at him one night back in third year during one of their petty fights about something or other. Sasuke had forgotten he had it.

So he came back.

Neji smiled at him when he sat next to his cousin on the first night back, and Hinata reached out and hugged him gently. Gaara was seated next to Neji, and he offered Sasuke a cool handshake, which Sasuke took, even though it screamed _I will still kill you if I have to, Uchiha,_ because he figured it was better for him to try and formulate an acquaintance with the redhead rather than be brought very close to his death again.

“You’re back,” were the first words Naruto said when Sasuke retired to the dorms.

The blond had been reclining on his bed, swathed in an orange and black coat (‘ _Hokage_?’ Sasuke inwardly questioned, remembering Gaara wearing a similar blue and white uniform and wondering if that meant Gaara was head of his house if the blond was) and playing with the gemstone on that necklace he had started wearing in third year. Now he was staring at Sasuke in something akin to bewilderment.

“Yeah,” Sasuke replied dumbly, not sure what to make of the blond’s attitude.

“Hai,” Naruto said shakily, standing up.

Gods, he looked amazing in the coat, whatever it was.

“Uh,” Sasuke tried and the blond nodded and fled without another word.

Sasuke sat down on his own bed, feeling as if he’d let an opportune moment pass. Nara Shikamaru wandered in with Akimichi Chouji and spared him a momentary greeting before talking about a game of cards that was taking place downstairs and offering him to join. He thought about joining, and then decided against it. He hadn’t seen most of his year in while; they probably hated him, especially after the stunt he pulled with Naruto last year.

“Your loss,” Nara drawled, saluting him as the two left.

Sasuke fell back onto the bed. He still hated this school, regardless.

 

*

 

Naruto was Hokage. Naturally. He hadn’t shut up about being it ever since coming to the school. As well as the blond being head of Konoha House, Gaara was Kazekage, a notion that surprised Sasuke. He had thought that the redhead had been a pariah in his house; apparently not.

They weren’t in teams anymore either; rather, seventh year brought on missions done in pairs, and the official list was put up in the Dining Hall on the first day back. There were a few collective groans, namely from Sabaku no Temari—Gaara’s older fearsome sister—and Nara, who had been put together.

“What a drag,” Nara sighed, looking over at the glaring blonde, and Sasuke winced.

The future for the pair did not look bright.

“Sasuke,” Sakura interrupted, tugging on his sleeve. “Who’re you with? I’ve been paired with Ino-pig.”

“Still going on the nicknames?” Sasuke deadpanned, searching for his name in the list. “Shit.”

“Who is it? Ooh, Lee, you’ve been put with Gaara.”

Sasuke tuned out to the two of them, scowling at the list and cursing all the gods in existence. He was with Naruto. Of course he was with Naruto. There were only about ninety other people that he could have been paired with.

“Huh. The Hyūga cousins are together. Who’re you with, Sasuke?” Lee asked, peering over his shoulder. Damn the raven’s long legs.

“Naruto,” Sasuke said slowly, looking around for the boisterous blond. “Where is the _dobe_?”

On cue, the blond strolled into the Dining Hall, hair mussed like he’d just been in a fight and Hokage coat sweeping around his feet as he announced, “I heard my name. Hey, the list’s up. Who am I with?”

Sasuke stepped back to let the blond through to see the list, awaiting the inevitable tantrum. It never came.

“Right,” the blond said instead, rubbing a hand over his face and looking at Sasuke as if he didn’t know what to do with him. “Sasuke.”

“Naruto,” Sasuke nodded.

“Okay,” Naruto dipped his head as well. “Kiba,” he directed at Inuzuka. “Who’ve you been put with?”

“Shino,” Kiba said happily and Akamaru yelped in confirmation whilst Aburame stood behind him and remained expressionless.

Sasuke blinked, wondering if he should be annoyed or relieved. In a sense, he was both. Annoyed because the blond had managed to brush aside their entire rivalry in one word, and relieved because at least they wouldn’t attempt to kill each other on their very first mission.

 

*

 

“Damn it, Naruto, will you focus on the task at hand?”

Naruto shot him a withering look and straightened up, yawning exaggeratedly and looking in the direction that he was meant to be. Their first mission was not going well. They were already a day behind, namely thanks to Naruto picking up on a false lead and Sasuke not realizing they had lost their mark until a while later. So, they had spent the extra day tracking her down again and had only just refrained from killing each other in the process.

So much for apologizing or liking the bastard; Sasuke was ready to end him and finish the mission himself.

“You tell me to focus,” Naruto muttered and Sasuke refocused his gaze on the blond, realizing his slip.

“Shut up and watch her.”

The mark was a female; pretty enough, with long brown hair and flashing amber eyes. An obvious _kekei genkai_ , and Sasuke still hadn’t wrapped his head around how they were meant to reclaim the stolen briefcase without a fight. She guarded it with her life, and though young—Sasuke guessed about their age—she seemed to hold her own ground.

“Naruto,” Sasuke hissed when he saw the blond had gotten distracted again.

A tea shop was not meant to be as distracting as this, especially in this small town. It was coming on four in the afternoon, meaning that the daily rushes were long gone; there was nothing to be preoccupied with other than their mark.

“Alright!” Naruto waved at him impatiently. “Kami, keep your pants on.”

“How the _fuck_ did _you_ get Hokage?”

“Because you weren’t there to get it instead,” Naruto retorted, before pausing, as if he realized what he’d just said.

Sasuke had no idea of what he was meant to say in response to that, so he left it alone. The jinchūriki had gone pink and he fiddled with the empty stick of his eaten dango, glancing at their mark again.

“Has she moved yet?”

“Not once,” Sasuke observed.

Her tea had remained untouched. Obviously she was waiting for someone. Her superior, probably. He sighed, bit back a groan of frustration (he was an Uchiha; Uchiha did not groan) and then signaled for their cups to be refilled. Their mark stayed as she was. Her tea had to be stone cold by now.

“Naruto, what is so interesting behind me that you have to be staring at it all the time?”

“Your death certificate,” Naruto mumbled.

“Ha, fuck you,” Sasuke answered, pulling at the sleeves of his jacket.

It was uncomfortable compared to the ANBU uniform, but a good deal more inconspicuous, so he had donned it. At least Naruto had left the Hokage coat at home, and he wasn’t wearing orange; they blended in more easily in dark blue, especially given the fact that the jinchūriki had dyed his hair for the mission. Sakura’s doing, not Sasuke’s.

“Stop looking so tense,” Naruto groused, leaning back in his seat and kicking Sasuke under the table. “What? We’re meant to be fitting in, which means looking comfortable.”

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, “Kami.” Then, “Better?”

Naruto made a face, “I guess.”

“Got a better idea, _dobe_?”

Naruto’s face took on a smile plastic enough to rival Sai’s, “No, you _baka_. It’s not if I have a better idea or not; it’s if you’re willing to make us look like normal people having dango in a tea shop rather than people out to steal back a briefcase.”

Sasuke huffed, annoyed, unwilling to reply.

Naruto rolled his eyes, muttered, “Come here, you fucking _teme_ ,” and kissed him chastely on the corner of the mouth.

“That’s your idea,” Sasuke stated, staring at the jinchūriki. His heart was _not_ thumping loudly, and he wasn’t thinking _Naruto kissed me_ either.

Naruto’s grin was still false, “Well at least you look a little more relaxed now.”

“Prick,” Sasuke uttered, and because he could, ducked in and kissed Naruto properly for a prolonged moment, murmuring against the jinchūriki’s mouth, “What’s she doing?”

Naruto shifted his gaze, face still too close to Sasuke’s, “Nothing. Oh hey, she just took a drink.”

_What does that mean_ , Sasuke wanted to ask, but Naruto’s damned hair was in the way (black, Naruto suited black, good job, Sakura) and having the jinchūriki this close was distracting. As in, ‘keep kissing me like that please’ distracting. Damn the jinchūriki.

“She’s leaving,” Naruto whispered, mouth still brushing against his, blue eyes meeting Sasuke’s before he reached in and pecked Sasuke again.

Sasuke watched as the brunette walked past, then stood and followed, not waiting for Naruto. The jinchūriki would have to catch up.

The brunette turned down a street, and then another, Sasuke’s ANBU instincts kicking in at the same time that he activated his Sharingan. It didn’t hurt to be fully prepared.

Their mark was returning to her hotel, Sasuke realized, when she turned down another familiar street. She entered the building and Sasuke dropped down from his perch half an hour later to linger in the shadows instead, shaking off the feeling of disappointment at the current lack of activity. At present, they were no closer.

Where the hell was Naruto?

 

*

 

“You better have a fucking good reason for not following,” Sasuke bit out when he entered their rented suite for the mission.

He had spent a good six hours loitering around the mark’s hotel, switching between ordering bubble tea from a nearby vender and staying in the growing shadows as the sun set and night took place; seeing the jinchūriki lounging on his bed when he returned was not a sight that Sasuke wanted to be greeted by.

Naruto wordlessly held up the briefcase and Sasuke’s jaw dropped.

“What? _How?_ ” Then, more importantly, “ _When?_ ”

“Half an hour ago,” Naruto spoke, and his voice was scratchier than normal. “She really was too young for the job.”

Sasuke sat on the bed next to the jinchūriki, staring at the briefcase in disbelief, “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing,” Naruto shrugged, leering. “Unless you count the time I got her drunk and slipped her a sleeping pill.”

“Her _kekei genkai_?”

“They’re contacts, Sasuke,” Naruto rolled his eyes and Sasuke refrained from slamming the jinchūriki into the nearest wall when he realized what Naruto had probably been doing for the past six hours.

“You managed to get it by _seducing_ her?”

“Not quite, but thereabouts. Like I said,” Naruto shrugged, rubbing his hands over his face. “Too young for the job.”

“But she didn’t leave the hotel,” Sasuke blustered, wanting an explanation and wishing the jinchūriki hadn’t handled the situation better than him.

“Hotels have bars too, _teme_ ,” Naruto pointed out, one hand cupping the back of his neck in discomfort. Perhaps his lover had been a little too eager. “Kami, where have you been all your life?”

_Becoming a better shinobi than you_ , Sasuke thought bitterly, spotting another love bite on the jinchūriki’s throat and looking away, hating how jealous he was.

“This stuff better come out,” Naruto combed a hand through his black hair, looking at it as if he had never seen anything stranger. He continued, “Anyway, she’s got a duplicate with her at the moment, but like, she let something slip about how she checks it every morning, so we should, y’know, leave. As soon as possible.”

“ _Dobe_ ,” Sasuke sighed, standing and stretching. He was tired and sore, but they needed to get the briefcase back to the Five Shinobi Institute more than Sasuke needed his sleep. The jinchūriki remained on the bed and he barked, “You coming or what?”

“I get bragging rights,” Naruto announced, getting on his feet and gathering up their already-packed belongings from the foot of the bed.

Huh. Looked like the jinchūriki actually had a little bit of foresight. Sasuke picked his coat up from where he had dropped it next to the door and shrugged it on again as Naruto joined him and held out Sasuke’s bag wordlessly.

Maybe this was how he was made Hokage.

 

*

They arrived back at the Five Shinobi Institute at eleven-thirty three nights later, delivering the briefcase back to whoever it was meant to go to and collapsing into their dorms. Sasuke took a much-needed shower, ignoring Naruto as the jinchūriki pounced on his Hokage coat as soon as he saw it. _Dobe_.

The rest of their cohort was just going to sleep (curfew was almost never followed these days), but Sasuke noted the absence of Nara and Neji, which meant that they hadn’t returned from their missions yet. Then he brushed it aside and resolutely did not think about Naruto kissing that girl. It was better to think of the jinchūriki kissing him.

“You’re still alive,” Sakura commented when the two of them appeared in the common room the next morning.

The pink-haired kunoichi was sitting with Rock Lee, legs propped up in the raven’s lap and bare apart from the pink knee socks she wore. They were the only two in the common room, given that breakfast was currently on, and Sasuke wondered what the pair had done to be excused. The only reason Sasuke and Naruto weren’t down there was because they had just returned from a mission.

“Barely,” Sasuke snorted whilst Naruto rolled his eyes and plopped himself down on the sofa.

He had washed out all the black dye and was back to his normal, spiky blond self, “Sasuke’s just sour because I got the briefcase back without him.”

“Oh?” Sakura tilted her head. “What was your mission?”

“Getting back some stolen governmental briefcase for baa-chan,” Naruto said vaguely, referring to Lady Tsunade as he always did, and Sasuke scowled, sitting on the armrest of the blond’s couch. “Sasuke was overthinking it.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You were too,” Naruto contradicted. “You spent like, six hours waiting for some sign of the mark and I got her in half-an-hour. Less, even.”

“Shut up, _dobe_ ,” Sasuke intercepted.

“What did you do to get it then?” Lee leant forward eagerly, the hand that wasn’t tangled with his girlfriend’s waving in the air for Naruto to talk.

“Prostituted himself,” Sasuke interrupted, earning a very good death stare from the blond.

“I did not ‘prostitute’ myself!” Naruto protested.

“You did too,” Sasuke sneered, feeling that same monster of jealousy crawling up his throat. “Like you’re always doing.”

“Jealous are we, Sasuke?” Naruto teased and that, well, that kind of stung a little.

“No.”

“You _are_ ,” Naruto sang, poking Sasuke in the shoulder and laughing when Sasuke slapped his hand away.

“I’m not, so shut up, will you?” Sasuke grumbled. “I just think you could have been a little less uncouth about the entire thing.”

“Don’t be such a virginal asshole.”

“Don’t be such a child,” Sasuke retorted.

“I was feeling a little nostalgic.”

“Gods, you’re immature.” Sasuke groused. “How the fuck did you even manage to get her?”

“Maybe because she was as easy as you are,” Naruto snapped.

Sasuke blinked, “Fuck you, Uzumaki, fuck you.”

“No,” the blond growled. “You don’t get to revert to surnames just because I say something you don’t like.”

“Been taking notice, have you?” Sasuke mocked.

“You certainly don’t attempt to keep your emotions secret.” Naruto must have seen something on Sasuke’s face to back up the comment, because he went on, “What’s the matter, Sasuke? Did I hurt you now?”

“The only thing you did, _dobe_ ,” Sasuke hissed, “was hook up with that stupid mark.”

“And you say you’re not jealous.”

“Because I’m not!”

“Did you want me to kiss you, Sasuke?” the blond taunted, standing and crowding into Sasuke’s space. “Is that what you want? Because fine then, I will. Tell me how do you want it, Sasuke.”

Stupid Naruto. The gods hated Sasuke, and it was all the blond’s fault.

“Go away,” Sasuke pushed at the jinchūriki, disliking how weak he sounded.

The blond didn’t budge, “Make me.”

“You want me to _make_ you?” Sasuke said, offended. “I’ll have you begging for it, you asshole!”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” the blond said and Sasuke blinked, hating how right the blond was.

“Fuck off, Naruto,” he pushed the blond’s shoulders again. “Fuck off back to your pretty whores; they’re always falling all over you when you need them, aren’t they?”

“I hate you so much.”

“Keep saying that,” Sasuke snarled. “Then maybe one day you’ll actually mean it.”

The blond turned red under that tanned skin and Sasuke felt a vindictive curl of pleasure at the sight. He must have hit a nerve, or close to one, at least.

“You are such a _bastard_ ,” Naruto said quietly.

“Like you?”

“I have fucking parents!” Naruto yelled.

“Everybody does.”

“Or did,” Naruto rejoined and Sasuke punched him. The blond’s eyes clouded over and he touched his jaw, before clamping a hand around Sasuke’s wrist and pulling, “Fucking come here, you prick.”

Sasuke barely had time to register what was happening before the blond had pulled him to his feet and was marching out the common room, dragging him along. The hallways were dark and silent, as usual, and Sasuke tugged on the blond’s grip, “Let go of me, _dobe_.”

The blond turned around, slammed him into the wall and kissed him.

“Gods, I fucking hate you,” Naruto muttered, tugging roughly on Sasuke’s hair and licking his way into his mouth.

“Shut up,” Sasuke retorted, wincing when the blond’s hands pulled a little more harshly at the comment. “Kami, stop pulling my hair out.”

Naruto leant back, hands still tight in Sasuke’s hair as he appraised him, “Y’know, you don’t have to actually kiss back unless you like this.”

Sasuke bit his lip to keep from saying anything. He always seemed to be putting his foot in everything with Naruto.

“Sasuke,” the blond cooed, knowing he had caught him out and chuckling when Sasuke’s eyes narrowed into a glare before rubbing the strands between his fingers with something that Sasuke could only label as fondness.

“Let me go.”

“Why should I?” the blond said, biting down on Sasuke’s bottom lip with a slowness that sent a warm thrill up his spine. “When you’re enjoying this so much?”

Stupid hormonal reactions.

“ _Dobe_ ,” Sasuke hissed, shrugging the blond off him.

He could, if he really wanted to, have the jinchūriki on the ground in a matter of moments, but his body was a traitor; it liked the blond’s closeness too much to make Sasuke want to get rid of him.

Naruto, to his credit, eased off and looked steadily at Sasuke, daring him to talk. Sasuke blinked; the blond was damned if Sasuke was about to tell him anything, or explain the last couple of minutes.

“What?” he said defensively.

The blond ran a hand through his hair and had the decency to look sheepish, “Sorry about before.”

“Hn.” Sasuke grunted, miffed and wishing the blond would kiss him again.

“Is this,” Naruto motioned to the space between them. “…what was that about?”

Here it was, the opportunity to tell the blond everything; how he hadn’t meant any harsh words he’d said over the past few years, how much he liked him, how he had wanted the blond for a long time. It loomed up in front of him and Sasuke took a deep breath.

“Nothing.”

He couldn’t do it. Not yet. Sasuke swallowed hard, taking comfort in his cowardice and wishing that he was braver.

“Really,” Naruto said disbelievingly, looking away and dropping the hand in his hair down to his side. “Why do I find that hard to believe.”

“Think what you want.”

“Right.”

“Are we done?” Sasuke asked, wanting to crawl away and muffle himself in his sheets and think of what Naruto’s meaningful kisses felt like.

“You’re running away again, aren’t you?” Naruto sighed, and when no answer was forthcoming, he shrugged, “I guess.”

“Cool,” Sasuke nodded, and then he turned and fled.

 

*

 

Sakura wasn’t pleased when she found him again a day later, only succeeding in catching him because Sasuke had fallen asleep in the library reading up on chakra control to pass the time.

“What do you call yesterday?”

“Fighting, Sakura-chan.”

The pink-haired kunoichi ignored the endearment, “I thought you two had made up.”

“That’s nice,” Sasuke said coolly, closing the book with a satisfying thump and pushing it back into its slot on the shelf.

“What did you two do afterwards? He dragged you out the room and yet neither of you have any bruises or breaks, and I don’t expect you two to have talked about it, seeing as you didn’t say a word to each other at breakfast.”

“I was tired,” Sasuke grumbled. “You know I don’t talk in the morning, or ever.”

“You do to Naruto.” Sakura said stubbornly. “You bicker and complain to one another constantly.”

“What business of yours is it?” Sasuke snapped.

“Why are you two so adamant that you hate each other?” Sakura retorted. “Obviously you two don’t, seeing as you make an effort to be bitter all the time.”

“It’s called rivalry, Sakura,” Sasuke growled.

“No, it’s called jealousy,” the pink-haired kunoichi corrected. “I’ve had too many talks over the years with both of you and nothing has worked, so how about you grow up and talk to each other instead?”

“And why would I want to do that?” Sasuke mocked.

“You’re always telling Naruto to stop being so immature,” Sakura said fiercely. “For once in your life, maybe you could listen to your own advice.”

Sasuke stayed quiet, feeling like he had been slapped, and Sakura left him, pink hair blazing with visible chakra—that was never a good sign.

The worst thing was, she was right.

 

*

 

He eventually tracked down Naruto next to the lake, training. It was close to one-thirty in the morning, and the dorm was mostly empty, save for Neji and Nara, so Sasuke had come down for some solitude. He hadn’t thought that Naruto knew this section of the riverbank; it was covered in moss and sheltered from plain view by multiple ancient weeping willows, and up until now, Sasuke had never seen anyone else in it.

The blond didn’t notice him and Sasuke took the time to appraise him, watching Naruto weave a pattern of hand signs to summon two large jutsus across the water in quick succession to complete the routine.

He thought of his brother, and then Sakura, and then the blond in front of him, feeling something squeeze in his chest. He was such an idiot, all the time.

Then Naruto noticed him.

Raising a brow, the blond gestured to him, “What’re you doing here?”

“Watching,” Sasuke shrugged, feeling like he had been spying on the blond when in reality, he had only been waiting for the blond to finish.

“Alright.” Naruto dug his hands into the pockets of his jōnin vest. “I didn’t…is this your hideout or something?”

“What makes you say that?” Sasuke asked warily.

Naruto blinked, looked at the overhanging branches, “I read your chakra signature. It was the only one here.”

“Hn.” Sasuke coughed and said no more.

The silence grew uncomfortable, and Naruto was staring at him with an unfathomable expression, as if he wanted to devour him whole. Sasuke guessed he deserved as much, especially after brushing him off.

“Sakura,” Sasuke started, having no idea where he was going to take that particular strand of conversation. “Did she…talk to you?”

“This morning, yeah,” Naruto frowned. “Why?”

“I, uh,” Sasuke shook his head to clear his bangs away from his face. “She thinks we’re being stupid.”

“So do I,” Naruto answered. “Well, you are.”

“I am, aren’t I?” Sasuke winced.

“Why, then?” Naruto asked, and it was clearly making him very uneasy, but he persisted. “I don’t understand what I did wrong.”

_Everything_ , Sasuke’s brain supplied. “Neither.”

“Well that’s great,” Naruto said sarcastically and Sasuke grimaced this time.

This was why he didn’t talk with the blond; they both inevitably grew irritable and lost their tempers and ended up trying to murder one another instead of sorting things out like responsible young adults—and they were graduating this year, for Kami’s sake.

“Tell me what I did wrong,” Naruto insisted, and Sasuke’s anger got the better of him, as always.

“Oh, for the love of—I don’t know.”

“You do, you can’t not—”

Sasuke jerked away, “What if I can, huh? What if I actually don’t know?”

Naruto’s eyes narrowed, “You’re lying.”

Sasuke scoffed, “Like you would know if I am—”

“ _Tell_ me,” the blond implored, hands reaching out to grasp Sasuke’s arm, “you stubborn bastard.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Sasuke shrugged him off and moved out of the blond’s reach.

“It’s always like that, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and now I’m leaving.”

“You can’t just keep turning your back on this,” Naruto said in exasperation and made another swipe at Sasuke’s arm, catching his ANBU scarf instead.

“What do you want me to say?” Sasuke said bitterly. “That I like you?”

“Why not?” Naruto returned with equal force. “Gods, _I_ do!”

They both paused. Then the blond looked into the distance and the silence stretched itself out, settling in. Sasuke felt very childish. To hell with his pride, really. It had caused nothing but trouble.

The blond didn’t look like he was ready to talk, and Sasuke honestly didn’t want to converse either. He wanted to curl into the blond’s arms and stay there, but that didn’t look like a realistic dream, with the blond refusing to look at him. Sasuke bit down on his frustration, deciding that it wouldn’t help if he fostered his anger. He was meant to be apologizing and sorting things through and yet all he’d managed was to get them both riled up again.

Eventually Naruto spoke quietly, not meeting Sasuke’s eyes as he did, “I think about you all the time, you know. Most days I can’t get you out of my head and I always ask myself why you’re the one.”

“What do you mean?”

“I…nothing. It’s nothing.”

“No, what do you mean?” Sasuke repeated, wanting a definite answer for his own security, and Naruto looked at him again, azure blue eyes open and painfully honest. “The one for what?”

“What do you want me to say?” Naruto threw Sasuke’s words back in his face, but sentences lack spite when they’re tired.

“I…” Sasuke took a sharp breath. “I think I want you to kiss me, actually.”

Even those words were enough to make Sasuke wish the world would open up and swallow him whole, but he stared defiantly at Naruto. He wasn’t about to tell the blond straight up that the feeling was mutual—he was too proud for that. The blond would just have to do with being told indirectly.

Naruto didn’t talk; instead he heeded Sasuke’s request wordlessly and leant in to brush a kiss onto Sasuke’s mouth, gone before Sasuke could even register the contact.

“How ’bout that?” he asked, voice an octave lower than normal.

“Wait, wait,” Sasuke said, grabbing clumsily at Naruto’s shoulders, feeling the opportunity slipping away like a fish and wanting desperately to catch it before he screwed up again. “Don't…you didn’t…”

The rest of the sentence was lost, but it was hard to care, especially when Naruto surged to meet Sasuke’s questioning kiss with a forceful one of his own. Hands landed on Sasuke’s waist and tugged him close for one arm to wrap securely around whilst the blond’s free hand tangled itself in Sasuke’s hair.

“ _Teme_ ,” Naruto muttered out the side of his mouth, before returning to the kiss with renewed interest.

Sasuke kept his hands on the blond’s shoulders, finding himself unable to do anything other than let the blond slant their mouths together, hands drifting down back to Sasuke’s hips.

This could work, Sasuke thought, just the two of them, kissing on the waterside, for ever, maybe. He had no idea why he had kept running away from this. Damn his pride and traditional sentiments and aversion to following the crowd.

Naruto’s tongue was doing dangerous things inside Sasuke’s mouth and his hands couldn’t seem to keep still, constantly on the move to chart new areas. It made him take a shuddering breath and hold on tighter, angling his head to get closer, not wanting to let go, because then Naruto could leave, and Sasuke didn’t want that. He wanted the blond here, right now, just like they were.

If Naruto had any doubts of Sasuke’s reception to the situation, he didn’t voice them, choosing to paw at Sasuke’s ANBU uniform, as if he wanted to take it off but couldn’t be bothered to do it properly. Sasuke had half a mind to take it off himself before the blond stopped kissing him to stare at him purposefully. To check, Sasuke realized, as Naruto slowly undid Sasuke’s trousers and drew them down his legs.

If there was ever a time that Sasuke was horribly self-conscious, it would be now, more than ever before, with Naruto on his knees before him. He was hard, he had been almost immediately after Naruto had started to kiss him, and now it was embarrassing, having Naruto so close to his erection. His face felt hot, and the blond’s insistence to maintain eye contact wasn’t helping the situation at all, especially when he began to move his hands up Sasuke’s calves to settle in the dips behind his knees.

Sasuke whimpered slightly, not missing the implication—Kami, how could he?—and trying to remember how they had gotten here, how he was going to last if the blond kept staring at him like that, how he was turning to putty even though they hadn’t even done anything yet.

His mind was going into overdrive. He couldn't think straight. Fuck, this was actually fucking happening.

Finally Naruto broke the eye contact, lowering his mouth onto Sasuke’s erection and chuckling slightly when Sasuke’s legs buckled.

“Easy,” he reassured him, kissing Sasuke’s hipbone before resuming his previous position and curling his tongue around Sasuke, greedily drinking in Sasuke’s reactions.

For a few moments, the world narrowed down to Naruto and the wet unbearable heat around his cock. He could see now why people did this all the time; it felt amazing, and Sasuke was making so many sounds that he knew he would cringe about later, but it was irrelevant in the present moment.

“Naruto,” Sasuke pleaded, hips bucking and straining against the death grip the blond had on them. “Gods, _please_.”

Naruto dipped his head once, twice, three times more, and then pulled off with a drawn out movement, dipping his tongue in before wiping his mouth and standing again, eyes dark and concerned as he crowded in close.

“You alright?”

Sasuke figured he must look like a mess, naked from the waist down, trousers bunched around his calves, erection covered in saliva and precome and hair ruffled beyond recognition from when he had tugged at it. He was hard, damn it, he needed to come, and yet at the same time, he felt out of his depth.

So, he nodded rather than trying to formulate a response and Naruto pressed his mouth to Sasuke’s, tongue slipping against his and teasing out small sounds as his hands found the buckles of Sasuke’s vest. That came off, and Naruto was starting on removing Sasuke’s singlet when he stopped the blond, pulling on the drawstring of the orange and black Hokage coat and pushing it off his shoulders instead. It pooled on the ground, but Sasuke was more interested in uncovering Naruto’s tanned skin.

He had seen Naruto’s chest before, many times, but it was different seeing it when he was running his hands over the smooth muscles than merely watching from afar. Now was much more preferable, and Sasuke took his time, hands sliding up and down, across the blond’s wide shoulders, drawing down to his hips, daring to dip into Naruto’s waistband and then back to tip-toe up ribs until they found shoulder blades.

The entire time Naruto stayed silent, eyes following Sasuke’s movements intently as he made no move to interrupt, until Sasuke’s fingers found his waistband and tugged uncertainly.

Here was when Naruto grasped his wrist, saying, “What do you want to do, Sasuke?”

“I…can we…” Sasuke broke off, somewhat embarrassed that he couldn’t even speak properly.

He knew what he wanted, he had known it for a long time, but faced with the reality of having it now, he found he was tongue-tied.

“Sasuke?” Naruto checked and Sasuke tugged on the blond’s waistband again.

“Let’s do it,” he breathed, inwardly cringing at his forwardness—he sounded like some lecherous pervert.

Naruto’s jaw tightened but his expression remained serious, as if he wanted to but didn’t at the same time, “We don’t have to. We can leave it here—hell, you might kill me afterwards or regret it or something. Um.”

Sasuke stared at him, thinking that Naruto and insecurity didn’t match. The blond had every reason to not believe he was genuine, but it didn’t stop the words from stinging.

“Please?” he asked. “I want to. I’ve waited long enough, and…I think you have too.” Then he added, because he was nervous and hopeful and on the cusp of rambling reasons why Naruto should have sex with him, “I promise I won’t kill you.”

Naruto laughed genuinely, pecked him once, “Okay.”

Sasuke allowed himself to give a small smile back and the blond kissed him hungrily in response. Sasuke leant into it, hands panning over the blond’s skin, feeling drunk on the sensations, and the blond himself seemed a little drunk too, for the kisses were starting to get messy and less focused.

Dimly, Sasuke remembered the blond’s waistband and broke away, ignoring Naruto’s attempts to chase after him as he undid the blond’s trousers, too shy—or prudish, maybe—to do anything more than shimmy them down below his hips. From here, Sasuke could see the thick line of Naruto’s arousal and he swallowed briefly, confused at the thrill of want that sang through him.

“Sasuke?” Naruto murmured, head bent close to his, and Sasuke kissed him quickly, before going back in, daring to wrap a hand around Naruto’s length.

The curse the blond gave made Sasuke smile a little.

Awkward angle, even more awkward sounds, and yet Sasuke couldn't stop arching into Naruto’s hands, burying his face in the blond’s neck and hoping he was doing it right. The sounds the blond was making didn’t seem to be fake, at least. Sasuke’s legs were starting to feel unsteady, and the blond’s mouth on his shoulder were making his vision fuzzy; perhaps it was the building heat in the air.

“Shit,” Naruto swore suddenly, biting down hard on Sasuke’s shoulder and rocking harshly into him.

“You alright?” Sasuke repeated the blond’s words teasingly.

He had figured out some of what Naruto liked, and thumb-twists and wrist-flicks were topping the list at the moment.

“Sasuke,” Naruto growled and then he kissed him again, tongue following immediately as he gripped Sasuke’s length in response.

It was somewhere between Naruto establishing a rhythm for the two of them and licking the roof of Sasuke’s mouth that Sasuke realized that he was going to come, and very soon. He didn’t want to come yet, not like this, he wanted all of Naruto, damn it.

“Naruto,” he gasped into the blond’s mouth, hands leaving the blond’s erection to tug at his hair instead.

 “I know,” Naruto said, but he eased off and took one last lick of Sasuke’s teeth. Then he moved away, leaving Sasuke on the brink of finishing as he pulled off the remainder of their clothing.

“Naruto?” Sasuke said uncertainly, the blond keeping one hand on him as he spread out his Hokage coat on the ground and pulled Sasuke down onto it, kissing him quickly.

“You know how this works, right?”

“Have you ever?” Sasuke asked, winding his hands around Naruto’s neck to ground himself, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

The blond hesitated, then shook his head, “Not once.”

That was surprising, and it must have shown on Sasuke’s face, because Naruto smacked him on the shoulder, “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Sasuke said, then chuckled. “I mean, you’re always going around kissing people.”

“I like giving people affection when they need it,” Naruto shrugged.

“Even kissing?”

“Even kissing,” Naruto confirmed. Then he slanted their mouths together and chased away Sasuke’s thoughts for a while. “Are you still sure you want to?”

Well, of course, plus Sasuke’s ego was still in play. “Yep.”

“It’ll hurt.”

“I’m a shinobi. I’ll live.”

“I don’t have anything.”

Sasuke hit his arm, exasperated, “Go get it then.”

Naruto grinned wide, then ducked in and kissed him long enough for Sasuke to start considering forgoing the need for lubrication or even penetration, “Okay.”

“ _Dobe_ ,” Sasuke complained at Naruto pecked him once more, still grinning, before disappearing in a puff of chakra.

Without the blond, Sasuke became aware of their surroundings. He had been here before during the night, but the reality of what they were about to do still loomed above him, and he burrowed deeper into the Hokage coat, biting down on a silly smile. Stupid Naruto, really. Another puff of chakra and Naruto reappeared, wrapped up in a blanket and hailing a small bottle of what looked like oil. Sasuke felt his face go pink, and then scowled when the blond rejoined him.

“ _Dobe_ ,” he grumbled. “You’re cold.”

“Warm me up then,” Naruto retorted playfully.

“That’s the point,” Sasuke said, before realizing the weight behind his words and flushing again. “ _Don’t_.”

“Wasn’t going to,” Naruto said toothily in a tone that spoke the opposite, dipping down to kiss him and encouraging Sasuke’s legs up around his waist.

_They’re trembling_ , Sasuke noticed, as he felt Naruto’s hands on his skin and he clamped his teeth down to refrain from squirming when the blond’s fingers finally reached their destination. 

“You good?” Naruto whispered, his finger a slow stroke inside, and Sasuke nodded, adjusting to the feeling and remembering that this part was enjoyable.

He recalled this much at least, the whole preparation thing, but since that was the extent of his experience, he couldn’t envisage what was to follow. Sure, he knew the basics, but that was it. Naruto at least had some inkling of what he was doing, as he had barely gotten to three fingers before he was cranking them upwards, trying to find Sasuke’s prostate.

“ _Naruto!_ ”

“Found it,” the blond said cockily, but Sasuke was too preoccupied with the sensations he was drawing out of him to be concerned with the comment.

“Asshole,” Sasuke grunted, whimpering when Naruto’s fingers dragged slowly and precisely out only to push back in with four. “Gods…”

“Hm,” Naruto hummed happily, licking his way past Sasuke’s teeth as he fingered him leisurely. “Hey, easy now, we’ve got all the time in the world.”

_No we don’t_ , Sasuke wanted to say. He didn’t, and kissed back instead.

It seemed to be a long while before Naruto finally withdrew his fingers and cupped the back of Sasuke’s knees, eyes soft when he pulled back from a final kiss.

“Feel free to back out now,” Naruto reminded him, and Sasuke decided to pursue the egotistical side of himself to mask his nerves.

“Please. As if you aren’t dying by now.”

Perhaps his face gave him away, or Naruto was much more sensitive than Sasuke gave him credit for, but either way, the blond was incredibly gentle as he eased in slowly, so slowly that Sasuke wasn’t sure if he was moving or not.

“Oh,” Sasuke uttered when he finally felt Naruto’s hips flush against his, unable to form a more eloquent sentence.

Naruto himself was bowed over, forearms quivering where they framed Sasuke’s head, and the blond was breathing harshly into his neck, voice strained when he checked, “You okay?”

Sasuke nodded, overwhelmed, and then realized that the blond would probably need more than just that for reassurance, so he said, “Yeah,” surprised when his voice was just as wrung-out.

“Gods, you feel amazing,” Naruto choked, hips stuttering as if he couldn’t quite keep them still, and Sasuke clenched experimentally around him, nearly groaning at the pleasure that punched him low in the gut.

It was starting to become clear why people had sex.

“Naruto?” Sasuke said nervously, not knowing why he was being so shy when he had Naruto buried inside of him, but the blond understood regardless and kissed him.

“I know,” he said, and then, raising up onto his forearms, pressed their mouths together and began to thrust.

The Hokage coat beneath them was sticky with sweat and oil, and Sasuke struggled to keep up with the blond’s kisses as Naruto wrung sensation after sensation out of him, bringing him to the edge of pleasure before slowing down and restarting the build-up all over again. Sasuke wasn’t surprised that he didn’t last long, and when Naruto finally finished, he gave a great groan and bit the side of Sasuke’s neck with a ferocity that left Sasuke knowing he was going to have to wear his ANBU scarf religiously for a while.

Eventually, he brought himself out of his post-coital bliss long enough to note that Naruto was looking a lot more collected than before, and he ran his hands through the blond’s long locks, giggling in disbelief and continuing when Naruto joined in.

“How do you feel?” the blond murmured eventually, kissing the corner of Sasuke’s mouth gently.

He was still inside of him, and Sasuke started to laugh hysterically, “Weird.”

“Yeah?”

“Hn.” Sasuke nodded, biting his lip and looking at Naruto’s shoulders, arms, anywhere but his eyes.

He wasn’t sure what to do now, given how they had ended up here in the first place. Naruto said nothing, but he pulled out and stood, chuckling when his legs shook a little, before holding out his hand to help Sasuke up. Sasuke scoffed and ignored him, getting to his feet himself and then snatching the blond’s outstretched hand when his bearings didn’t return instantly.

“That’s flattering,” Naruto remarked and Sasuke rolled his eyes, walking gingerly into the lake and attempting to wash himself clean.

Naruto joined him in silence, and by the time they clambered out of the water, the sky was starting to lighten. They redressed carefully, Naruto folding the Hokage coat over his arm with a look akin to regret, but Sasuke wouldn’t have accepted losing his virginity on the ground; he had to have _some_ pretentiousness about the matter.

“I…thanks?” Sasuke said awkwardly, unsure.

Naruto nodded, “Yeah,” and then he kissed Sasuke playfully. “Go get some sleep, okay?”

“Okay,” Sasuke couldn’t help but smile a little, and if he went to sleep ten minutes later feeling happier than he had in a long time, then that was his own business.

 

*

 

For a few days following that night, Sasuke didn’t see Naruto at all, not even during mealtimes. He thought that he would always see the blond when food was present, whether it be seated at the Konaha table or amongst a crowd of Rock and Sand ninja, but it was not the case.

Sakura explained that it had something to do with the house leaders being called in to perform their last-term duties—which explained Gaara’s absence from Neji then—and then she had leered at him, as if she knew of what had happened between Naruto and himself. She couldn’t have, Sasuke reminded himself, since Sasuke had told her he hadn’t spoken to Naruto yet (and earned a disappointed pout for his efforts), but it didn’t make him feel any less uneasy.

Regardless, first term holidays were less than two weeks away, and his brother had sent word that he would not be home when vacations began, as he had just begun a three-month business stint in Europe to extend the Uchiha company’s foreign relations.

“I’m so sorry, otouto,” he had apologized when Sasuke had been brave enough to video call him a day later, and Sasuke hadn’t the heart to ask him otherwise.

His brother had a heart of gold, and he would do well to remember the sacrifices Itachi had made for him. So that left Sasuke with the decision of staying in an empty apartment for two weeks during the holidays, or staying with his cousins for the time instead.

“You’re always welcome at ours, Sasuke,” Neji said when he found out. “You know that.”

His cousin had returned from his mission a couple of days ago looking a little worse for wear, and it was one of the few times that Sasuke had caught Neji without his redhead partner. There was good reason behind Gaara’s actions, but Sasuke found it annoying, regardless, and having the brunet to himself seemed like a luxury.

“I know that,” he answered, already making up his mind.

If he stayed with his cousins, Gaara would no doubt visit, and vice versa, and Hinata—who had always been close to her genin team—had strengthened her ties to them over the past year, meaning she wouldn’t always be around either. Moreover, Sasuke wasn’t all too fond of his uncle Hiashi, so an empty apartment was looking far more appealing every time he thought about it.

Neji, who had always been attuned to Sasuke’s inner musings, nodded in understanding, “If you think it is best.”

Sasuke had a feeling that there was more behind Neji’s words, but he didn’t quite grasp what the raven was trying to say so he brushed it aside, for Naruto had entered the otherwise-empty common room. Sasuke felt something catch in his throat but he sat still, lest he alert his cousin of his recent activities.

“Naruto,” Neji greeted, beckoning him over.

“Hey,” the blond acknowledged, eyes sliding to Sasuke’s, and Sasuke flushed when he thought of what had occurred the last time he had seen the blond. “What’s up?”

“We’re discussing holidays,” the brunet intoned. “Are you staying with Inuzuka again?”

“Well, no, because the idiot’s decided to stay with his bug-boy.”

“Excellent.” Neji tapped his fingers together. “You should stay with Sasuke. He’s got an entire apartment to himself and no one to keep him company. You’re teammates too.”

“I hadn’t forgotten,” Sasuke muttered.

“Sasuke?” It was Naruto, and he looked at the blond.

“If you want,” Sasuke said indifferently, when in reality his heart was thumping.

He wasn’t a fool; he knew now that the blond liked him back, and he wanted to have a repeat of the other night. He wondered if Naruto could read his current thoughts; probably.

“Okay,” Naruto answered, and Sasuke almost smiled. Almost.

 

*

 

The apartment was unchanged when Sasuke opened the door, which meant that Itachi had been sleeping at his office. Even Sasuke’s old chocolate bar wrappers from last holidays were still on the coffee table, and every surface was coated with a thin layer of dust.

Behind him, Naruto whistled, “Nice place you’ve got.”

“It works,” Sasuke sniffed, tossing his keys in the bowl on the kitchen bench and placing his bag down on the floor.

The stupid lighting system Itachi had installed earlier in the year switched on suddenly, dousing the kitchen in bright light to drown out the feeble lamplight Sasuke had opted for upon entering, and Sasuke blinked, bleary-eyed from his usual habit of skipping out on sleep. Naruto was staring at him, his own bag placed on the barstool next to the one he sat on, and Sasuke turned to the fridge, hating himself for being so traitorous and letting the look go straight to his cock.

“Drink? Nii-chan only ever has Coke.”

“Thanks,” Naruto answered, and Sasuke resolutely didn’t glance back when he carelessly tossed a can over his shoulder.

The blond caught it anyway.

Sasuke got his own and closed the fridge, leaning back against it as he appraised the blond. He wasn’t sure how to go about it, getting what he wanted.

“So what now?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke didn’t know what the blond was referring to, or if they were on the same tangent in the first place, so he shrugged, “Whatever you want, I guess.”

“Okay.” Naruto nodded, and continued drinking.

Sasuke regarded him with something he could only call disappointment. The blond was usually one for taking the initiative, so for him to be doing nothing left Sasuke second-guessing himself. Perhaps the blond had changed his mind after the other night. Perhaps Sasuke hadn’t been good enough or something—but that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Naruto wasn’t _that_ shallow.

“What does your brother do?” the blond questioned softly, as if breaking the silence would make Sasuke angry.

Quite the opposite.

“He, uh…owns the family business. Well, that’s not quite true.” Sasuke sighed, stared down at his can. “He’s CEO, at least.”

“Oh.”

“Hn.”

Naruto nodded and set his can down. “Come here.”

“Why?” Sasuke asked, even though he knew what Naruto wanted, even though he was already walking towards him.

Naruto’s kiss was soft, his fingers gentle where they tilted Sasuke’s jaw, and Sasuke wavered, torn between lingering there and surging forward to deepen it. Naruto’s eyes were bluer than ever and Sasuke closed his own to them, because it was too much. He felt unbalanced, and the surety behind the blond’s lips—unmoving as they were—was only furthering his nerves.

“Yeah?” Naruto asked, and Sasuke opened his eyes to the question.

“Huh?”

The blond laughed, kissed him again, properly this time, and left Sasuke leaning forward, seeking out the blond’s mouth when he left.

“ _Dobe,_ ” Sasuke complained, but Naruto had already returned anyway, lips prying his apart as the fingers under Sasuke’s jaw shifted up to cradle his cheek instead.

Shortly afterwards Naruto stopped, brushing his thumb over Sasuke’s bottom lip with a slowness that made him embarrassed. He said as much and the blond smiled, canines glinting in the low light as his hands moved to stroke Sasuke’s cheekbones.

“You should sleep,” he murmured.

Sasuke’s eyes closed again as Naruto leant forward and kissed underneath his eyes, “Don’t need to.”

“You do,” Naruto answered, pulling back and dropping his hands.

He started looking through his bag, pulled out a toothbrush and paste and looked questioningly at Sasuke. Sasuke rolled his eyes and inclined his head, leading the way to his own bathroom.

An hour afterwards, when Sasuke was burrowed in the blankets of his own bed, he thought of Naruto’s hands on his skin, of the blond’s goodnight kiss that had left him breathless, of the blond’s chiding comment of Sasuke needing to get to his own room to sleep.

He wondered if the blond was asleep now.

Next to his bed, his alarm clock beeped one in the morning, but it was an early time for Sasuke. He almost got out of bed to check if the blond was sleeping, and stopped himself. No, it was better to do as the blond asked.

 

*

 

Naruto was up at ten. Late for Sasuke, and when he padded into the kitchen, the blond was sitting on the same barstool as last night, drinking orange juice and flicking through the channels on the television in the adjacent living room.

“Hey,” he said, eyes leaving the screen to meet Sasuke’s.

Sasuke nodded a greeting and started hunting for the bread to make toast.

“Sakura left a voice message,” Naruto inclined his head at the handset on the wall. “She wants to grab coffee with us and Lee today. Or tomorrow.”

“Not happening,” Sasuke said firmly, reaching out for the butter.

“No?” Naruto questioned, and Sasuke frowned.

“Why should we?” Sasuke asked, realizing his mistake and hastily correcting himself with, “I mean. Myself. Why should I go. You can go. I guess.”

The blond in front of him had a funny smile on his face and Sasuke scowled. Quickly, he grabbed a knife from the drawer and began buttering the bread, not caring that he hadn’t even put it in the toaster yet. There was movement and then Naruto approached, one hand reaching out and touching Sasuke’s, the one holding the knife.

“You haven’t even toasted it yet,” he chided in Sasuke’s ear gently, and Sasuke was about to send back a scathing remark when the blond ducked around and kissed him.

Sasuke leant into it, the knife clattering onto the board as he reached up to touch the blond’s cheeks, feeling the dips in the skin where the whiskers were. Naruto tasted minty, and it reminded Sasuke of his morning breath, and how he really should have considered mouthwash or something before breakfast, even though it always ruined the taste.

“We should probably…” he started, trailed off and didn’t say anything more.

He needed to brush his teeth, he needed to toast his stupid breakfast, he needed to ring their female teammate and tell her that he had no intentions of visiting her. He really needed the blond, come to think of it.

Naruto was waiting for him to finish, and when he didn’t straight away, the blond motioned to the phone, “I’ll tell Sakura we’ll see her tomorrow then?”

“For you, yeah,” Sasuke swallowed, licked his lips, and looked down at his…bread.

It was beyond saving now.

“Alright,” Naruto answered and he picked up the phone.

Sasuke looked at him, then disappeared to his bathroom to scrub his teeth viciously. He had never felt so aware of his breath before, and he wasn’t satisfied until three goes later, when his gums were starting to hurt and his tongue was stinging from the onslaught of mint.

“Where did you disappear to?” Naruto raised a brow, elbow-deep in the sink’s bubbles.

The bench was clear, meaning that Naruto had disposed of Sasuke’s failed attempt at breakfast.

“My teeth were fuzzy,” Sasuke said stupidly, then padded into the living room to flop down on a couch.

There was some useless girls’ anime on the television and Sasuke switched to a news one instead, absorbing himself in the events as the blond finished washing up. He wondered if he should point out the dishwasher, and then thought the better of it.

“What do you want to do today?” Naruto called out and Sasuke bit down on his immediate reply of _you_ and the surge of want at the answer.

He sank down against the couch cushions a little more and toyed with the hem of his sweater, hating how Itachi had employed a maid during his absence who had decided it would be a great idea to give Sasuke a brand new monochromatic wardrobe. He didn’t even like black, and the white sweater he was wearing was the only one of its kind.

The woman on the television was outlining the weather forecast when Naruto sat down next to him, and Sasuke only just remembered to stop chewing absentmindedly on his finger.

“You didn’t answer my question,” the blond said, Sasuke glancing at him before focusing on his other hand, which had started to fidget with his hem now.

“Up to you,” Sasuke shrugged. He had never been one for conversation, and he wasn’t about to start now. “We can stay home, if you like. Home’s good.”

Naruto nodded and the two of them sat in silence for a moment, Sasuke still managing to pay close attention to the stupid hem of his sweater as he tried to think of a conversation starter that didn’t start with, ‘ _or we could fuck right now, if you want_ ’.

“Um,” Naruto began. “You know how, last time. At the lake.”

“Hn,” Sasuke replied, for his tongue had suddenly decided to become uncooperative.

Of course he remembered, it was the only thing on his mind nowadays, especially since the blond had come home with him for the holidays. Then he worried. What if Naruto was telling him that he didn’t want him or something? Maybe Sasuke really had been terrible—too loud or something, which was ridiculous, but he hadn’t done much, apart from lying down and taking it. The blond kept kissing him though, so that was supposed to mean something, right? Or maybe he was just consoling himself over the fact that Sasuke was a better kisser than being a lay. Perhaps that's why the blond went straight to bed last night.

“Sorry about it,” he blurted out. “I didn’t mean—it was terrible. I was terrible. The whole thing was nice but I was useless and it won’t happen aga—what?”

Naruto was staring at him with a bemused expression, “I was just about to ask if…if you wanted to do that again.”

“Oh,” Sasuke uttered, and then he reached out and fisted a hand in the blond’s shirt, pulling him over to kiss. “We can do that,” he agreed readily against the blond’s lips, and Naruto nodded and kissed back.

 

*

 

Later, Sasuke stood on the balcony of his room. The night was cold, but he was wearing the same sweater from the morning, leaning against the railing and looking out to the winking lights of the city below. Naruto had fallen asleep somewhere between finishing and Sasuke kissing him in thanks, and he had stayed that way for the rest of the afternoon, only stirring to reach out and tug a pillow closer.

In that time, Sasuke had showered, called Sakura back and told her the two of them would see her tomorrow morning, watched a terrible drama and finally gotten around to eating, although he doubted curly fries really counted as fulfilling.

Lee wasn’t coming tomorrow, Sakura had revealed. Only Sai, and Sasuke had not missed the implication that Sakura expected he and Naruto to be on their best behavior. Amusing, given the fact that Sasuke had just spent the majority of his early afternoon in bed with the blond, but Sakura didn’t need to know that.

The light inside flickered on—stupid lighting system again—and Naruto stumbled out, clad in his jeans from earlier, rubbing sleep from his eyes and looking—

Sasuke refused to finish that thought.

“What time is it?” Naruto yawned, blue eyes bright even though the rest of him looked ready to go back to sleep.

“Seven,” Sasuke answered. “You fell asleep.”

“I noticed,” the blond nodded, but he paired it with a small smile. “At least you’re standing okay.”

Sasuke flushed red, muttering, “Shut up, _dobe_.”

Naruto gave him a vulpine grin in response and said no more for a while, leaning against his forearms on the railing.

Sasuke let the silence settle before speaking up again, “I talked to Sakura.”

“Oh?”

“It’ll only be Sai tomorrow. No Lee.”

“Shame,” the blond commented, ruffling his hair until it was messier than before.

Sasuke watched him, took in the way Naruto was taller than him now after spending so long being that little bit shorter. Sasuke still hadn’t gotten used to the blond’s longer hair, though the bangs around his face were the perfect length to grab hold of and rub between his fingers, which Sasuke would never admit to being fond of.

_Damn_ , Sasuke thought wistfully, feeling a strange urge to smile at the sight of the blond.

“What?” Naruto had noticed him staring, but Sasuke couldn’t care.

“Come here,” he breathed instead, overwhelmed with the urge to touch the blond and remind himself that Naruto was his.

“Hm?” the blond asked, hands coming up to wrap around Sasuke’s waist as Sasuke tightened his arms around Naruto’s neck like a noose. “What’s up?”

“I’m allowed to hug you, aren’t I?” Sasuke snapped, but he suspected that his words were devoid of malice when he had his face buried in the blond’s neck.

“Yeah,” the blond answered. “Of course you are.”

This was nice; just standing on his balcony, holding and being held by the blond, torsos pressed close enough to synchronize their breathing and a sleeping city beneath them.

“Are we…do we tell Sakura?” Naruto asked hesitantly, chest rumbling with the words.

Sasuke felt the blond’s nervous energy, the way he had tensed up, and he pressed a kiss to the blond’s neck to ease him. Did he want to tell Sakura? Not particularly, as she would never let him go on the issue. He would prefer to tell Neji before letting the pink-haired kunoichi know anything. Still, he had Naruto to think about, and it was probably about time that he let the blond have some influence on his decision.

“Do you want to?”

“Not really,” Naruto shook his head, surprising Sasuke.

He had thought the blond would want to tell the kunoichi the first chance he got.

“I mean,” Naruto went on. “I love her, but…”

“I know,” Sasuke agreed.

“Later,” Naruto promised, as if he felt the need to reassure Sasuke.

Which, he probably would have to down the track, but that was in the future, and Sasuke was content, for now. He sighed deeply, one hand drifting down to hold the blond’s waist instead as he stepped out of the blond’s embrace before leaving fully.

He wondered if Itachi would be proud of him for finally getting his act together. Maybe, maybe not.

“Come to bed?” Naruto asked, one hand outstretched.

“Hai,” Sasuke nodded, taking Naruto’s hand and making sure it was himself who lead the way inside rather than the blond.

He didn’t care if he looked eager, for once.

 

[end]


End file.
